Football’s Love-Hate Relationship with Cristiano Ronaldo
Christiano Ronaldo is one of the best players in the world today. He’s only 23 years old, but he’s already one of the faces of European football. He comes from and plays for Portugal, which automatically makes this Southern-European country a contender. The team he plays for is Manchester United, the team that won British football league this year and the Champions League (European Championship for club teams).
The SPIEGEL has an interesting article up about this young man:
No one scores more goals, and no one plays better than Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese player ought to be the star of the European Championship — if only it weren’t for his moments of insanity.
In the Champions League final against FC Chelsea, which took place on May 21 in Moscow, Ronaldo scored Manchester United’s single goal. He dominated the match with his dribbling and running and he could have been the great hero of the evening. But then it came to the penalty shootout and one of those Ronaldo moments. He kissed the ball, briefly tried to fake out the goalkeeper, and tapped the ball — right into the goalkeeper’s hands. It was a bad penalty kick — embarrassing and arrogant.
When he returned to his teammates, there was no consolation or sympathy. He stood there for a moment, looking as if he didn’t belong, kicking water bottles through the center circle. When FC Chelsea missed the second penalty kick, Ronaldo sank to the grass. He is probably the world’s best football player, but that doesn’t mean that fans adore him.
This year Ronaldo’s team, Manchester United, won the English championship and the Champions League. Ronaldo scored 31 goals in 34 league matches, breaking the 40-year-old club record of Manchester United legend George Best. He also scored the most goals in the Champions League. He will be the head of the Portuguese team at Euro 2008. Trainer Scolari has named him team caption, and of course Ronaldo will try to do what Portuguese football legend Luís Figo never achieved: win the European Championship.
Ronaldo’s body can do things that others cannot do. No one is as fast and agile, nor is anyone more inventive or cunning. He plays for himself, eager to shine and outwit the opposing team. Ronaldo is constantly trying to prove that he is the best, an aim that was also in evidence at the Champions League final in Moscow’s Lushniki Stadium. He is the boy wonder of football, 23 years old, and it would be a disaster if he ever grew up. The question is whether things would maybe work just as well without his lunacy and without these Ronaldo moments.
Probably not.
He may be a tad loony, but that’s not preventing my team, Real Madrid, from thinking of spending a bloody fortune to buy him; anywhere from 20 to 80 million euros.
To Americans, in case you didn’t know, soccer teams buy and sell players as if they were thoroughbreds.