That Cristiano Ronaldo would win the Ballon d’Or was almost a certainty; 42 goals in a season would be astonishing for an out-and-out striker, let alone a winger, and those goals fired his team to the Premier League-Champions League double. And mere numbers don’t even begin to describe Ronaldo’s effect on his team, and the opposition, writes Karthik Krishnaswamy.
In an interview to a Brazilian daily, ahead of Portugal’s recent friendly against Brazil, Cristiano Ronaldo said — in jest, it must be assumed — “I’m the first, second and third best player in the world.”
About a week later, 96 football journalists voted to partially agree and awarded Ronaldo the Ballon d’Or, making him the third from Portugal — after Eusebio and Luis Figo — and the fourth from Manchester United — after the sixties’ ‘Holy Trinity’ of Denis Law, Sir Bobby Charlton and George Best — to be crowned the European Player of the Year.
That Ronaldo would win was almost a certainty; 42 goals in a season would be astonishing for an out-and-out striker, let alone a winger, and those goals fired his team to the Premier League-Champions League double. And mere numbers don’t even begin to describe Ronaldo’s effect on his team, and the opposition.
Former Manchester United midfielder Pat Crerand once remarked about a young Ryan Giggs that he gave the defenders ‘twisted blood’. And so he did, and still does occasionally; and so have all great wingers. George Best and Garrincha probably left defenders’ internal organs in the wrong places before landing them on their backsides.
But common to the ones named above — and Lionel Messi, Ronaldo’s rival for a claim to the world’s finest footballer — is their slight build and low centre of gravity. Ronaldo’s physique is far removed from that of the classic winger. The Portuguese is easily six feet tall, and upon scoring goals squares his shoulders like a 19th century bare-knuckle boxer after an unsatisfactorily one-sided bout. The skinny frame of his teenage years has filled out considerably. This, allied to his pace as well as his blood-twisting quotient, results in wing-play that is, at its best, scarily direct.
Consider this piece of action from a game at Blackburn early this season. Right back Wes Brown knocks the ball forward and Blackburn’s left back Martin Olsson hesitates for a nanosecond in intercepting. Enter Ronaldo, who, a second later, after a burst of acceleration, fuelled as it were by jet propulsion, is pulling the ball back to Wayne Rooney from the byline, a full 15 yards from Olsson, who has just landed heavily, spun off balance like a man standing too close to a bullet train.
United manager Sir Alex Ferguson recognises this physical side to Ronaldo’s game, and — helped by the fact that his frontline contains other versatile players like Rooney and Carlos Tevez — uses him not merely on the wing, but also upfront or as a second striker. And so, arguably the two most important goals Ronaldo scored last season were goals a ‘typical British centre forward’ would be proud to score. The goals were in the Champions League, both towering headers. The first came in the first leg of United’s quarterfinal away game at Roma, and the second was the opening goal in the final against Chelsea in Moscow. Both were unstoppable. You can’t imagine any of the other wing wizards scoring goals like that.
Ronaldo’s ‘team’ game has also evolved dramatically. The early Ronaldo could exasperate viewers, pundits and his own team-mates with endless step-overs and exaggerated feints at the touchline, trickery that wasn’t always backed up by ‘end-product’. No longer can he be accused of that.
Examples are only examples — you could find examples of Vinnie Jones displaying silken skill; or of Paolo Maldini making a rash tackle, and they’d still not change your verdict about the player. But here’s one anyway:
Late March, a very wet Old Trafford: Manchester United 4, Aston Villa 0. This was perhaps the Red Devils’ most virtuoso performance in a glittering season, one that Villa manager Martin O’Neill said he’d want his young players to watch on DVD and learn from. And though Wayne Rooney scored twice, it was Ronaldo’s match. After scoring the first himself — a cheeky back-heel, no less — he played the final pass for the other three goals, each one different in conception.
The first was a first-time cross from the right wing that hung invitingly at the far post, the sort that would prompt Andy Gray to yelp excitedly in commentary: “Go on son, put that in the back-o-the-net!” Tevez did just that. Then, Ronaldo diverted with his heel a pass from deep into the path of Wayne Rooney, who rounded the goalkeeper expertly. And finally, after some quick interplay with Tevez and Michael Carrick at the edge of the Villa box, Ronaldo flicked a pass with the outside of his foot to set up Rooney’s second goal.
But what about the other facets of Ronaldo, the footballer and the man? What about his flirtation with a move to Real Madrid days after signing a lucrative long-term contract at United? Where’s the respect for a contract, let alone the loyalty that endears a player to fans for life? All that can be said here is that there are equally compelling arguments on both sides. And since when have footballers needed to be cuddly, likeable blokes?
Okay then, what about the D-word? Sure, he’s known to take an opportunistic tumble in the box or two, but he’s a footballer of his time: no different from Steven Gerrard or Robert Pires, to take just two examples. And he certainly doesn’t dive as much as the righteous brigade — which singles him out as if he was an exception in a snow-white sport — would have you believe.
Weigh that with the rough treatment he faces from Premier League defenders every week, which is borne out by the stats: according to Opta Sportsdata, which provides statistical analysis for the Premier League, Ronaldo was third in the ‘minutes per foul won’ list and fourth in the ‘fouls won per game’ list among Premier League players last season. And not just the quantity, even the ‘quality’ of the fouls perpetrated on him has been quite extraordinary, a case in point being Manchester City left back Michael Ball’s horrendous stamp on him two seasons ago.
Sir Alex Ferguson often points out the persistent fouling of Ronaldo and lauds him for continuing to take defenders on regardless. In an interview with ‘The Times’, he said: “Courage in football, as in life, comes in many forms. But the courage to continue, no matter how many times he is going to be kicked, identifies Ronaldo ... All the great players had it. Best had it, Charlton had it, Cantona. ‘I’ll take the kick. I’ll take the injury. But I will keep the ball. I’ll beat the bully.’”
Ronaldo’s transformation can be traced back to the start of the 2006-07 season, which began just after the World Cup had ended. A World Cup which had seen him dazzle in patches, his immaturity still evident in a lack of end-product. A World Cup, in English eyes, where Ronaldo was the villain (read scapegoat) who pressurised the referee into sending Rooney off in the England-Portugal quarterfinal. He came back to England, with the arms of Ferguson and assistant manager Carlos Queiroz around his shoulders, determined not to let the booing get to him, determined to become a seriously good footballer.
As for the best player in the world, that depends on what you look for in your choice. Ronaldo’s dribbling doesn’t have the purity of Lionel Messi’s, and the Argentinean’s close control in tight spaces is a tad better; Messi doesn’t do bullet headers and is predominantly left-footed while Ronaldo can shoot with either foot. Players in other positions have claim to the title too.
Ronaldo now stands where another Ronaldo did just over a decade ago, at an even younger age. In the years that followed, the Brazilian did achieve a degree of greatness — A degree? He’s the all-time leading scorer in World Cups! — but only a degree that players a rung lower on the genius ladder could be content with. Injuries did him no favour either.
Predictions of all-time greatness should therefore be left to crystal-gazers who also have time machines. But it can be safely said that, at 23, and as fit, focussed and ambitious as an athlete can be, Cristiano Ronaldo has the ingredients.
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