While Lionel Messi's genius is flawed, his main challenger for the Ballon d'Or, Cristiano Ronaldo, comes closest to the definition of the Nietzschean superman. The reaction to the prissy morality of his rivals defines him as the philosophy's modern flag-bearer. As you are all no doubt aware, Nietzsche declares exceptional people should follow their inner law, and who does that better than Ronaldo?
Slave morality was invented, he argued, to make those suffering feel that their morality was superior to those in charge. While football in the '90s became faster, stronger and more athletic, the lack of power in morality was renamed as meekness - a virtue - to imbue the sufferer with dignity. Look at Barcelona - Xavi, Messi, Villa - all half-pinters in a team of short rounds. By elevating the passing game above that of strength and power, they claim a false superiority. Ronaldo, though, and Real Madrid by extension, espouse master morality, theoretically the morality of the true victors. Look at Ronaldo's physique. If God is indeed dead, it's not because man killed him: it's because Ronaldo did. By himself, with his bare hands. The quality is true of his team-mates: Barca's effete Dani Alves was seen to by Real's Pepe, incurring a red card but proving the real superiority last season. Barcelona were reduced to waving to signal their apparent suffering in order to gain an advantage from the referee.
This way of thinking is fine for Barcelona - it allows them to make their team game a strength. Their passing suffocates teams into submission, and their incredible technique finishes them off or challenges whatever resistance might remain. For Real Madrid, though, they embrace the exceptional abilities of their superman, Cristiano Ronaldo. The ball is given to him so he can continue his remarkable scoring feats. To be a one-man team is to embrace the other morality of the master. Ronaldo is able to achieve greatness with his own talents: his team-mates simply highlight it. Of course, pragmatism steps in - even Ronaldo cannot play in 11 positions at a time - so they need ten other players to fill the pitch. But Ronaldo's greatness should not be confused merely with his goalscoring - it should be recognised in the other areas on the pitch.
His free-kicks are not always top corner highlight material, destined to be repeated in admiration. No, Ronaldo is clever enough to work out that sometimes it serves his team - and therefore him - if he is able to create a chance from shooting just in front of the 'keeper, so that the rebound can be bundled in. Pretty? No, but the most effective in securing Cristiano Ronaldo trophies and achievement in the long term.
Just because he's attacked as an egotistical bore, it's not the case that he is disinterested in passing. He expresses his superiority in allowing his colleagues to succeed at his behest. In 2009-10, he contributed seven assists; in 2010-11, a further 14; and this season he already has eight. He may have selfish traits but his commitment to his own success is reflected in the number of key passes he makes. He has the ability to set up goals with both feet, from distance or with short passes. If to be exceptional is to be an ubermensch, then the sheer breadth of his abilities must qualify him as the uberest.
Further, if the ubermensch is someone who can look at mere humans with contempt, then Ronaldo personifies this. His most talented team-mates, let alone opponents, cannot match his worth. Ronaldo is the one man whose injury would without doubt end Real Madrid's attempt to thwart Barcelona this year. Without Iker Casillas, Xabi Alonso or Mesut Ozil, the team could endure. If it happened before the end of the transfer window, they could in all probability be replaced if not bettered were it deemed necessary. If Ronaldo had a long-term injury, who could fit into his role? Nobody. His otherworldliness is reflected in that his absence would lead to a fundamental readjustment to Real Madrid. Their aims would shift from domination to simply victory. No other player can do that.
The will to power of Ronaldo is what allows him to be the best player he can be with a relentless vigour. It is that he aims for the highest possible achievement that makes him vital for any team. An ubermensch is supposed to answer a question that we did not know existed, and Ronaldo has done that by reinventing football. Before Barcelona had their false nine, at Manchester United, with Carlos Tevez and Wayne Rooney, he was able to create a false front three, with no fixed positions. He invented the first and only irresistible English team in the Champions League. His qualities, above all, lead him to pursue the record books because he is aware of the eternal return - the acceptance of fate. He knows his time is limited on the field as it is in life, and as such he is striving to provide a bridge from human achievement, to something else entirely.
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