Ronaldo Suspension Strategy Fail: “But Messi Did It Too!”

By: Dave Martinez | January 31st, 2010

57946469 A few weeks ago, I highlighted the budding tête-à-tête relationship between two of the world’s greatest footballers: Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Add this footnote to the growing competition.

After a brutal flailing arm broke the nose of Malaga defender Patrick Mtiliga, Ronaldo and Real Madrid contested the handed two game ban.

Their defense? A video of Lionel Messi flailing like a woman being chased at a local pub by a drunkard gropper.

Seriously.

Check the video after the jump

This was Messi against Sevilla’s Marc Valiente. And this was Madrid’s defense.

Here is my take. In Ronaldo’s case, we have an aggressive Mtiliga on the chase. Ronaldo does a peek a boo over his right shoulder, measures up a shot, and uses his already flailing arms to land a perfect elbow on the bridge of the defenders nose. Messi, on the other hand, looks like a date rape victim trying to run away from an overly happy handed low life. Never once did he measure Valiente up, nor react with malice. What he did do was grab the attention of the ref before he woke up the next day carrying Valiente’s love child.

Totally different circumstances.

Barcelona President Joan Laporta shared his discontent with the strategy on the part of Madrid, saying “What we know is it is wrong to involve Messi, because he is honest and loves football. He is a player who is not controversial and is humble. He meets all the requirements to be considered the best player in the world.”

ZING!

Naturally, the two game ban stands. And somewhere in the world, Cristiano Ronaldo is waxing his legs wondering “what happened?!”

What do you think? Shoot off your opinions below.

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Category: Europe, Leagues, Spain La Liga

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coconut

yea, people who hate CR9 are gonna say did it on purpose.

I dont hate CR9, but dont praise him either. Did he do it intentionally? i really dont think so. Do i think he should use the "messi did it too!" excuse? nah, that's a cheap trick imho. But hopefully that'll make defenders defenders think twice about grabbing an opponent.
eugenius

Measuring my ass. Some people hate Ronaldo so much their vision becomes blurred. :D
pfelds

the difference, ronaldo is a bitch and tries to cheat, messi is glorious, and plays pure joga bonito
nk aimar

Anyone who says it doesn't look is in serious denial. At the 0:42 second mark you see him turn his head enough to catch a glimpse(peripheral vision people - it's how Guti saw Benzema this weekend) . While I don't think Ronaldo intended to make Mtiliga's face a pancake, his swing was a preemptive action for something he thought was going to happen.

His misjudgment & his aggression deserves a sending off.

In Messi's case he IS being held. He IS trying to free himself. He IS trying to play-on for two-solid seconds. And here is no aggression in his flailings.

This is a AS issue not a real argument.
Luka

Ronaldo deserves a two-match ban every now and then just because he's an annoying twat. Messi just walks in, destroys his opponent for 90 minutes, and walks out - no Messi-ng around. Ronaldo, on the other hand, is one of those who needs someone to pat him on his ass every 5 minutes and every time he does a step over.
dave martinez

The truth - look at the vid again and tell me he doesn't do a quick measuring up of his opponent! It absolutely looks that way.
Naser

Soccer is a game of fairness.. I dont care if messi is humble.. or if ronaldo is a great looker.. they both did the same thing, in fact messi did %500 more.. but not the same result.. however, it is a good reason to not give him a ban or even a red.. refs should b similar.. etc its just stupid
joe bloggs

I do not think messi throws an elbow at all, his arm flailing is consistent with that of a person trying to run to negate a force...even when his arm is raised towards valiente's face, there is no intention of trying to him, he clearly has control over his arms in not hitting the player...ronaldo on the other hand, clearly has no control over where his arm goes when he hits mtiliga...i would not go so far as saying he looked over his shoulder and tried to him or even if there was intention, we will never know if there really was intention or not...but there definitely was lack of self control and care whether the player gets hurt or not by ronaldo even though it was a couple of "barely even got hold of the shirt" whereas messi and valiente nearly exchanged jerseys
phil

I think the main difference is that messi doesn't actually throw an elbow until the very end. At the end if the defender had been shorter then he might've taken some damage. At the same time I think that messi's flailing just kept getting worse due to the lack of call. If that gets whistled sooner then it's a non-point. CRon threw 2 elbows. The 2nd one broke the Mtiliga's nose. There's a night and day difference between the actions of the defender and CRon's actions were pretty uncalled for at that point.
the truth

The people who are saying that ronaldo took a quick glance and saw where the defender's face was then deliberatly hit it are clowns to be honest what the hell do you think ronaldo is ? SUPERMAN ? no way in hell he saw where the defender's nose was
the only difference between the two is luck if that sevilla defender was any shorter messi would have it him in the face and hurt him
your bias is disgusting
dave martinez

Nah, it's worse. Soy Argentino!!! Hahaha
nk aimar

Some of y'all (@George, @McManus, @Mr. Martinez) have Mad Madrista Goggles on.
Thomas

I'm not much of a Messi fan (or a Barca fan for that matter), but I'd have to say that these were completely different situations. Messi was being grabbed, Valiente seemed to be trying to grab him around the waste and bring him down, whereas Mtiliga was chasing Ronaldo in the way every defender chases an opposition forward, being physical and trying to get to the ball. Messi's reaction was so obviously justified that this entire argument is ridiculous.
George

Honestly, I see no difference, except that, unlike Messi, Ronaldo ends up elbowing the guy in the face. The defenders are at fault for unfairly grabbing the jersey and neither Messi nor Ronaldo should have been punished for their reactions. Additionally, to everyone saying that Ronaldo looked up and intentionally elbowed Mtiliga, I do not see sufficient evidence from the video to make that assertion (besides, if someone is tugging on your shirt, is it that unnatural to glance back at them?) As someone about the same height as Ronaldo, I'll admit that I have unintentionally elbowed people before.
Ryan McManus

Once again I am disgusted though not surprised by how some people here have this image in their head of this moral ladder where Barcelona is sitting quite pleased with themselves at the top while Real Madrid is barely hanging on grabbing at whatever or whoever they can. I do think Ronaldo's was worse than Messi's, in effect if not in intent, but is it really the difference between no call for one and a red card and a two week ban for another? Certainly not. For the record, this is Laporta talking out of his ass once again and in general, Messi is the player that everyone loves, and Ronaldo is the player that everyone loves to hate.
lenses14

It's rather low of Ronaldo and Madrid to try to bring down Messi and Barcelona to make themselves look better.
CharlieFineman

I think it's not even worth talking about.
Joel

Personally I believe Ronaldo deserved the two game ban. Rules are rules, no matter if you are the best looking soccer player in the world. He elbowed Mtiliga and broke his nose. I feel Real Madrid is wrong for bringing up Messi. Ronaldo elbowed Mtiliga and Messi has nothing to do with that. Bringing up Messi was a bad choice because now it gives Barcelona more of a reason to hate Real Madrid. They are already enemies, and this just gives Barcelona a better reason to hate Madrid. They said Messi elbowed Valiente, but looking at a reply of that Messi's hand hit Valiente's face not his elbow. Ronaldo was lucky that it was only a two game suspension, because it could have been more.
ant

dave, not adam.
ant

yeah you about summed it up perfectly.
Adam

The big difference is Ronaldo has upper body strength.