One will go home tonight. And for football, that will be a moment of genuine grief.
Cristiano Ronaldo, 41, and Luka Modrić, 40, two of the greatest players in the history of the game, former Real Madrid teammates for nine years, six-time Champions League winners together meet tonight on opposite sides at a World Cup for the very first time. One of them will play his last-ever World Cup match in Toronto tonight. The other will live to fight another day.
Ronaldo shared a dressing room with Modrić from 2009 to 2018. They won four Champions League titles together, three La Liga titles and everything else available to them in club football. The one trophy they never shared, the World Cup, is the one they are both still chasing, both still dreaming of, at an age when most players have long since retired.
“We are talking about players who are above public opinion,” Portugal coach Roberto Martinez said. “Their longevity makes them icons of football.”
Tonight in Toronto, one icon takes one step closer to the dream. The other steps away from it forever.
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