It's a world title fight: Kaka v Ronaldo
ANYONE who watched the last two weeks of Champions League quarter-final football saw some extraordinary team and individual performances.
On a team scale, the demolition of Roma by Manchester United was as stunning as it was unexpected and, after some ordinary group stage performances and a struggle against Lille in the last round, the first time United looked like potential winners.
It also marked the coming of age of a brilliant individualist in Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.
And a day later, the ageing but highly classy and experienced AC Milan continued their resurgence after the "calciopoli" saga by dispatching another grand old lady of European football, Bayern Munich, with consummate ease away from home.
And, just as Ronaldo had dazzled with the ball at his feet, so too did the incomparable Brazilian Kaka, who teased and tormented the Germans with tremendous balance, technique, skill and vision.
Indeed, over the two legs Kaka's performance was almost entirely the difference between the two clubs, and given his submission was the focus of a great tactician in Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld, it was all the greater for its timing and deadly effect.
So it is that the mouthwatering semi-final between Milan and United shapes as a gripping contest.
But it is the two chief protagonists, Milan's Kaka and United's Ronaldo, who hold the key to another European final for their respective teams.
Ronaldo's performance last week had the world's press gushing that he is now the world's best player.
He certainly is in the top few, but the coronation might be premature. He is exciting, yes. Technically brilliant and offensively rapier-sharp, yes. The most in-form player, perhaps. But the best?
History shows that to deserve the accolade requires not only incredible ability but a winner's character and great performances on the greatest stages. The next month will show whether Ronaldo is a player who can deliver.
Three players stand alone at the summit of world football: Ronaldinho, Ronaldo and Kaka.
In an excellent lesson for Australian kids, they all have similar individual qualities.
To a man, they have the priceless ability to dominate a game, to force their skills on any opponent, and specifically to beat a man in an individual contest.
This is the most prized skill in football, something all the greats such as Maradona and Rivaldo, Ronaldo and Cruyff, Pele and Romario, possessed. Today, in an era of ever-increasing defensive organisation, it remains the most valuable of gifts.
This is why Real Madrid offered £54 million ($130 million) for Ronaldo after first trying to poach Kaka, and why AC Milan are prepared to pay record fees for the signature of Ronaldinho, although the bid is likely to be in vain.
All three are players of grace and flair who are keeping the game beautiful, but to my mind Ronaldinho remains the most complete player.
His technical abilities are at a level we have not seen for a very long time, although this season he has been less than his stellar best in a Barcelona team that, according to former coach Johan Cruyff, has reached the end of its cycle and needs to be regenerated.
And Ronaldinho wins. That is, he applies his abilities for the good of his team on the biggest stages to the greatest effect - as in the 2002 World Cup, the 2006 Champions League campaign, and the past two La Liga titles after Barca had not won for six years.
This season he has 17 goals in 25 league appearances, with 20 in 41 in all competitions, including two in the Champions League.
All of this has been in an ordinary year by his standards, and in a Spanish league that has far greater depth in quality than the premiership, and where teams are better organised tactically to nullify his threat.
But the difference this year with Ronnie is that, whereas in recent years he would have brushed the Liverpool defence aside and taken the opportunities he was gifted, this season he was unable to carry his team through.
This has opened the door for the 22-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo, whose maturation this season is highlighted by his added attacking threat. After scoring only 12 goals in all competitions last year, this season he already has 20 goals in 42 appearances.
The key difference is that Ronaldo gets to play against the bottom 16 sides in the premiership. Take out the top four who are all strong and predominantly foreign coached and staffed, and one wonders what Kaka or Ronnie would do to Bolton or Sheffield United, Aston Villa or Newcastle, Wigan or Charlton.
At international level, with excellent performances at both Euro 2004 and the World Cup last year, when I rated him easily the best young talent over Germany's Lukas Podolski, Ronaldo has been growing and developing and has shown the strength of mind a player needs to overcome hostile crowd reactions.
But perhaps it is his performance and goals against Roma during the week that signal his elevation to another plane, where only the greatest exist.
The match against Roma was the Cristiano Ronaldo show, and Kaka v Ronaldo in the semi-finals promises to be a contest of exceptional quality between two youngsters who have the football world at their feet.
The outcome of this clash could decide the Champions League.
If Ronaldo gets his team through and then wins the competition, he will indeed be recognised as the world's best player.
