For Messi vs Ronaldo, read U.S. vs Saudi Arabia – a new twist in a famous rivalry
November 19, 2022 — Qatar’s World Cup kick-off is a day away; Louis Vuitton’s latest advertisement is unveiled.
These two things would seem unrelated. Except that, to promote their new luxury travel bags, the designer label released a photograph that had currency far beyond the realms of fashion. The company had restaged a famous chess match between two grandmasters using the smooth surface of one of their expensive cases as the board and hired Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to star in it.
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Two chess players contemplating their next move.
Taken by the illustrious photographer Annie Leibovitz, the image raced around the globe and before you could say ‘GOAT’ it had almost 70 million likes across the two players’ social media accounts. Football, fame, social influence and monied luxury had met in one image and, were it necessary, reinforced the enduring power of Messi and Ronaldo, the two players who have shaped 21st-century football like no others.
Perhaps only David Beckham – a man whose commercial potential surprised even Real Madrid after he joined them – can compare in terms of a footballer’s off-pitch effect and it seems no coincidence that Beckham, who preceded Ronaldo in the No 7 shirt at Manchester United, should today be alongside Messi at MLS side Inter Miami.
GO DEEPER
David Beckham, the interview: Miami, Messi, Manchester United - and more
This will surely be the great Argentinian’s last playing role and it got off to a typically lyrical start with a 36-year-old Messi’s vivid stoppage-time winner nine days ago. But it is more than that. This is a new global project: MLS soccer.
Beckham understands the sporting and economic stakes; so does MLS and American fans ahead of the 2026 World Cup their country
Read on theathletic.com
