It will be the last dance of two sporting artists who have decorated football like few others ever have. A final fling for a dynamic duo which has taken the game to unprecedented levels. Welcome to what we should all hope will be the long goodbyes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Drink it in. Soak it up. Appreciate the genuine privilege of watching two icons strutting their stuff on the greatest stage of the lot one more time. One which was built for sporting geniuses like them. No footballers have transcended the game quite like Messi and Ronaldo.
They might not be genuine friends. They will not head out to dinner during this World Cup. And they certainly will not send each other Christmas cards. But when these two came along at the same time, that same Christmas also came early for the beautiful game.
In the space of one decade, Messi or Ronaldo won every Ballon d'Or and other individual FIFA award going. Since 2007, 20 of the 29 Ballon d'Ors up for grabs have ended in the hands of either Messi or Ronaldo.
But it is their feet which have left football lovers mesmerised. While the numbers surrounding these two are equally mind-boggling. Almost 2,000 career goals between them. Eighty-five trophies for club and country and a combined 427, and counting, international caps.
These mercurial talents have spent the thick end of 20 years obsessed with outdoing one another. It led to a timeless debate about who is the greatest. Opinions remain divided, although Messi winning the World Cup in Qatar four years ago elevated him above his biggest rival, it has to be said.
Yet the main beneficiaries of this seemingly timeless tussle between Messi and Ronaldo have been all those who have got to watch it play out. Some of those who have shared a pitch with them believe it could be a rivalry the game will never see again. Fuelled by an unflinching desire for trophies and perfection, Messi and Ronaldo inadvertently pushed each other to unfathomable heights.
You cannot compare a Ferrari with a Porsche, Ronaldo once said, before declaring he was the best. Ronaldo has built a brand because he wanted to. It has made him a billionaire. Messi, meanwhile, had no interest in being famous like the Portuguese, but also had no choice, given the gifts he had been born with. Quiet genius versus justified ego?
Perhaps the debate could be settled like this. Messi is the greatest footballer in history, while Ronaldo is the greatest goalscorer. In the world of top level football, where opinions flood the game like a relentless tsunami, a definitive decision will never be reached. And quite frankly, no one should care. The argument does not ever have to be settled.
What matters is that one day, two very special footballers will be retired and the thrill of seeing them dazzle will be nothing more than a memory, albeit a wonderful one. And in the meantime, Messi and Ronaldo will take to the big screen again, looking to add more layers to their respective legends. For a few weeks more, two gods of the game will look to bestow their powers on a World Cup which still needs them. How long this lasts, no one really knows. But for this fact alone, all of us should be eternally grateful.
