Here in England, we have a narcissist megalomaniac, who as of now has seized the limelight of the entire English press and the audience, it is not Boris Johnson (for a change). The individual referred to here is the one obvious Cristiano Ronaldo.
Through the course of his astonishing career, Ronaldo has mostly etched headlines for all the right reasons scoring a plethora of goals at an unprecedented rate for 3 of the most prestigious clubs in the world. Winning all of the awards, accolades, and adulation that one could imagine in football at both club and individual levels. This season though seems like an anomaly, Ronaldo has consistently dominated the headlines for divisive and contentious reasons. In over 1000 minutes of football Ronaldo has played this season his output has dwindled to an underwhelming 3 goals. CR7’S critics compel that he is desperate to stay relevant and thus tenaciously wants to attract all the attention. As Man united visible progress under Ten Hag, especially with Ronaldo’s absence might have triggered incorrigible behaviour from Ronaldo.
Cristiano Ronaldo through the course of his football career has been categorized as egotistical to almost a comical extent. Even his staunch admirers would not dispute that, former teammates have claimed about his obsession with winning individual accoladed than collective silverware, and his body language after his team had won a game that he had failed to score was akin to most players after their team had suffered a defeat. Ronaldo’s attitude is not isolated in this sense, lots of great footballers are self-centred especially forwards, to his credit Ronaldo was always transparent about this aspect of his personality. Ronaldo has publicly expressed his desire to win all the Individual accolades, claiming that he would want to retire with the greatest number of Ballandor as he deserves it. Although Ronaldo could be described as selfish, predominantly his self-interest aligned with the ambition and the aspiration of the teams that he represented. So a Ballandor at Madrid was a celebration of the result of the team’s exploitation and success in the champions league. While Ronaldo was at his absolute peak, Los Blanco's were extremely grateful for Ronaldo's narcissism, as it meant him consistently scoring 50 goals a season and delivering trophies for the team.
Before the onset of the premier league this season, it was heavily reported that he wished to transfer away from Manchester United, primarily due to its failure to qualify for the champions league this season. Ronaldo's absence from the tournament jeopardized his hegemony over the UCL as he wanted to prevent anyone from surpassing him as the competition's all-time goals scorer. Least of all Lionel Messi, who stands just 10 goals behind him. Ronaldo's behaviour recently for instance leaving the spurs game and refusing to be substituted should be least surprising. It appears that for the first time in his glittering career Ronaldo’s interests no longer align with the club that he represents. CR7 aspires to continue scoring a plethora of goals and establish new records for which he needs to play regularly, preferably with his teammates creating scoring opportunities for him. Whereas Ten Hag intends to implement a quick, dynamic, and high-pressing style of football. For this reason, this conflict was inevitable.
In an attempt to resonate with Ronaldo's frustration, it is complicated for Ronaldo to evade the mantle of being the team’s most pivotal cog. As has been the case for the past 15 years, the demise of being just a rotational player as has been the case this season is a transition that is incomprehensible for a player of his calibre. Every footballer is compelled to abide by terms and notions of time, evolve their game, and ultimately at some point have to admit that their standards have dropped as their body can longer be capable of matching their ambitions. Although Ronaldo is a physical freak and is more than good enough to play into his early 40s, however, it seems that he has struggled to come to terms with the fact that he is no longer the best player in the world or star of the show. With Ronaldo’s obsession with records, the perception of his legacy within the game seems to be the driving force behind the recent histrionics as a genuine outpour of petulance on his part.
With the commencement of the world cup, the most elusive trophy in the game, and a competition that has eluded Cristiano so far, his record in the world Cup has been underwhelming considering his otherwise outrageous career. According to Ronaldo, his victory at the world cup 2022 would cement his legacy as the greatest of all time. Whilst Ronaldo will start at the world cup regardless of his club form, he would have preferred to get more consistent minutes under his belt. He jeopardized his pre-world cup sharpness due to sheer petulance. Unfortunately, the reality for Cristiano now is that his negatives outweigh his positives for an elite-level club. Over the years Ronaldo has successfully adapted and moulded his game with ultimate efficiency, better than anyone in the history of the sport. From a tricky wide man at the infant stage of his career to a complete wide forward in a front three at Man United and Real Madrid and eventually a ruthless center forward at Juventus impacting pre-dominantly within the six-yard box, there seems to be no part of the game that can be evolved after that final stage.
From a purely analytical perspective, I would be loath to compare Ronaldo and Messi, however, in this context, it always seemed obvious to most analysts and pundits that Messi in later phases of his career would drop deeper into the midfield to prolong his career. Considering his vision, awareness, the weight of his pass, and his technical finesse. Messi’s heatmaps from this season manifest and exhibit precise analysis. Also considering Messi's personality, approach, and craving for the limelight are not as frantic as Ronaldo as he seems quite comfortable with Mbappe being the star of the show at PSG scoring the goals while he turns the provider. Ronaldo's departure from his beloved United appears to be acrimonious as it is evident the club is performing better with Ronaldo's absence recently which provided leeway to Ten Hag rather than making him look daft. Ronaldo’s inevitable psychological battle with no longer being the main man was always going to make headlines.
Kommentare