Glorious careers ended in tears: Brahmananda on Neymar and Ronaldo's last tango

New Delhi: Tears welling from the eyes of two legendary footballers -- Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar Junior -- with remorse and guilty after their nations' exit from the FIFA World Cup told a thousand stories, according to India's legendary goalkeeper and former captain Brahmananda Sankhwalkar.

"Their tears screamed: 'I was so close, yet so far'. The silent tears reverberated among us, the football community: 'Oh they just failed to lay their hands on yet another World Cup'. It's gone without them bringing the Cup to their nation'," Brahmananda told PTI.

"For all their glory and ecstasy, the heights they conquered suddenly meant nothing and dark shadows of failure during the elite tournament deepened amid the glittering lights of club football successes. I feel gutted to see them cry like that."


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Ironically, within 24 hours the two legendary footballers of the modern era -- Brazil's Neymar and Portugal legend Ronaldo danced for one last time on the big stage.

"They have ended their careers without a World Cup, which will surely come up when discussing their legacy, impact and place in the history books. But these two towering soccer personalities gave GOAT Lionel Messi a run for his money. They were the immediate challengers to the GOAT. But they were in the twilight of their enterprising careers and both couldn't savour the ultimate taste of success and raise a toast and say cheers to their 20-year-old envious timeline," the former India goalie said.

Ronaldo remained a serious challenger and a threat to Messi throughout his football career for the coveted Ballon d'Or trophy which symbolised FIFA's best footballer of the year.

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Most years, both of them were nominated along with a few first timers and a some perennial "also rans". Neymar was arguably the third best player in the last decade-and-a-half, becoming all-time international goal scorers for Brazil, surpassing the great Pele.

"Football aficionado like us considered them the 'alternates' to the conventional, while the prejudiced saw them as mere 'pretenders'. But undoubtedly they formed the trignometry alongside the undisputed GOAT of the beautiful game," he added.

Brahamanda was particularly grieved to see tears in Neymar's eyes after Brazil's exit.

"Neymar could do little, remained a mere spectator warming the benches throughout Brazil's campaign due to his injuries and lack of match fitness.

"His solitary goal in the pre-quarters against Norway was too little too late and the five-time world champions Brazil was punched and knocked out by the brace of Norwegian giant slayer Erling Haaland," said Brahmananda.

Within a few hours, two neighbouring countries, Spain and Portugal met, with the former enjoying pre-tournament favourite status. And they lived upto the expectations at Ronaldo's expense.

"Ronaldo looked a pale shadow of himself. His touches were feeble, passes inaccurate, execution inside the D or at the goal mouth lacked both imagination and intent. Result, a solitary confinement inflicted through a lone goal conceded in the injury time of the second half," Brahmananda said.

With the quarterfinal line-up finalised, only one South American country in Argentina is in the fray along with one African nation -- Morocco -- and they will be pitted against the mighty Europeans -- France, England, Spain, Belgium, Norway and Switzerland.

In the battle for supremacy for the golden boot, Messi, with 8 goals, is leading but Kylian Mbappe and Haaland too are looking simply unstoppable.

"Pundits and a few football fanatics are burning midnight oil to witness the climax which is nearing with no clear-cut favourites, as France and England look dangerous and Spain quite invincible.