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Cristiano Ronaldo has won the Ballon d’Or. That is not surprising. Anyone with an infinitesimal feel for soccer realized that Ronaldo was going to win. At the age of 30, he may have just had the best year of his career. His goal scoring record has been inhuman, and he has won everything with Real Madrid that there is to win at the club level. He deserved to win the Ballon d’Or, and he did.
David Luiz, on the other hand, was voted to the FIFA FIFPro World XI, the supposed “team of the year.” It is moments like these that really make you question the sanctity of any and everything that FIFA puts its name on. Sure, the rest of the starting XI is deserving. Manuel Neuer, Sergio Ramos, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Arjen Robben - among others - all had spectacular years. Good. Fine. Dandy.
But then there’s David Luiz, whose defending in the past year made this little boy cry.
It is only in looking at Cristiano Ronaldo and David Luiz together, however, that we can appreciate what David Luiz might become in the future - the ways that our vantage point today might be skewed by the circumstance of World Cup 2014 and how, over time, Luiz might earn redemption in the same way that Ronaldo has come back in 2 short years from playing second fiddle to Messi.
Indeed, the truly remarkable thing about Ronaldo winning the Ballon d’Or today can only be appreciated in the context of Lionel Messi. In 2012, Lionel Messi and his world-beating Barcelona side were the undisputed kings of soccer. It seemed as if the little Argentine could do absolutely nothing wrong. He would score goal after goal, win trophy after trophy, including his 4th straight Ballon d’Or. The rest of the world was anointing Messi as the second coming of Christ, and all Ronaldo could do was look on helplessly.
Yes, Ronaldo was the second best player in the world at that time, no one disputed that, but the monolithic achievements of Lionel Messi seemed as if they cast a shadow over Ronaldo’s career that he would never be able to escape.
Most people in Ronaldo’s position would give up, but he did not. He has worked harder and harder, motivated by the greatness of Messi. This is not to say that Ronaldo would not be the player that he is today without Lionel Messi. He would have found motivation in other places. It is just that there is no arguing that Lionel Messi is the only player that has ever been better than him. For a competitor like Ronaldo, there is no greater motivation than knowing someone better than you exists.
In much the same way that Messi's greatness once cast a shadow over Ronaldo, the past year casts a shadow over David Luiz's career that, it seems now, will be difficult to ever escape.
Make no mistake, Luiz's rise has been meteoric. In 2012, no one was really sure if David Luiz could actually defend; in 2014, PSG acquired him in the most expensive transfer for a defender ever. Luiz was a big name, and an exciting player.
David Luiz may well end up being one of the greatest defenders of this generation, but he definitely is not that now. He is not a bad defender, either, just unworthy in the context of his surroundings. David Alaba, Diego Godin, Vincent Kompany, Raphael Varane, and Jerome Boateng all had more prolific years.
That the FIFPro XI is selected by the players makes David Luiz’ placement simultaneously more and less surprising. Surely, one would think that 50,000 professionals choosing the best in their very own field would do better than David Luiz? But no, no, it all makes sense. It is all just a popularity contest, isn’t it? Not to trivialize the circumstances by comparing them to a high school student government election, but there really is no other answer.
David Luiz is a good defender and, by all accounts, a hilarious and gregarious guy to be around. Come'on, just look at his Twitter account! It’s equal parts adorable, charming, and candid!
Curtindo o Natal com família e amigos! / Having fun with family and friends! pic.twitter.com/cGxg0t0T3M
— David Luiz (@DavidLuiz_4) December 25, 2014
Que saudades que eu tava de vc, Abner! #sobrinho #parceiro #teamo I was missing you so much! #nephew #love pic.twitter.com/MAelVBD5gf
— David Luiz (@DavidLuiz_4) December 24, 2014
— David Luiz (@DavidLuiz_4) December 18, 2014
We would vote for him, too. But is popularity among players enough to shed the weight of the past year?
In contrast, Ronaldo has taken his place at the summit of the footballing world despite a rocky history with both players and, at times, fans. In fact, for a large portion of his career, Ronaldo seemed to be able to do nothing but rub people the wrong way. But all of the offense we used to find in his arrogance has washed away, as everything tends to do, in the face of success. What we saw as conceit now only looks like honesty, despite the fact that it was never a lie. Ronaldo has never been fake. It took him becoming the best in the world for the majority of us to see that, and accept it.
So, for all of the consternation surrounding David Luiz’ appointment to the FIFA FIFPro XI, we need to remember that, as we post flaming rage or contemptuous jokes on the internet, FIFA FIFPro is voted on by the players, for the players. If David Luiz did win on account of his standing among the 50,000 voters, then so be it. The resulting disquiet has been disproportionate to the perceived transgression.
If Luiz was selected because of his popularity amongst the players, then he is now being ridiculed because of his lack of popularity amongst soccer fans.
Yes, there were more worthy candidates, but the unworthiness of Luiz has been magnified by his failures at Brazil 2014. The backlash that he received after becoming the world’s most expensive defender was influenced in the same way.
Luiz and Ronaldo need to be looked at now because they offer the rare opportunity to see two athletes simultaneously at opposite ends of public opinion. We need to appreciate Ronaldo now to realize what David Luiz might be to us in the future: a symbol of redemption.
Just as Ronaldo has overcome Messi, Luiz can overcome his tarnished reputation. All the criticism that Luiz is now receiving needs to be tempered with the knowledge that all will be forgotten in the wake of success. Brazil will be back, and PSG is going to contend for the Champion’s League title year-after-year.
When Luiz finally lifts a trophy above world soccer, we should not be surprised that he has done so. We should be appreciative of what he has overcome to get there.
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