It's a funny world of Cristiano Ronaldo, famed for his footballing exploits, questioned on many life choices and nowadays earmarked as being "Over The Hill" in terms of pure football domination.
Because let's face it, Cristiano Ronaldo has dominated.
He's not a player I've personally been fascinated about. Yes, when he arrived from Sporting Lisbon to the Ferguson era Manchester United, he looked very good, exciting, and had skills that seemed to come from a locker room of wizardry ideas.
Mesmerizing, you could say.
But as much as the likes of Gary Neville & Rio Ferdinand saw the ability up close, no one outside of having a crystal ball could have fathomed the sheer magnitude of his achievements in the game of football. If nothing else, you just have to marvel at a player who showed early promise at Manchester United, went on to become a match-winner, and then fine-tuned all those elements in the Madrid sunshine.
It was in the very sunshine of Madrid where all the cogs, springs, and matter that make up Cristiano came into full fruition. It's where he became idolized, mimicked, loved, hated, coveted in medals, and had an airport named after him.
The cherry on-top of a CR7 cake.
Roll forward to 2024 and Cristiano Ronaldo is still playing (albeit in Saudi) competitive football. He's still hounding the ball into corners of the pitch, still attempting to thump the ball into the net from 30 yards, and still getting onto the ends of loose balls in the box. It's nothing short of a miracle. He should be cast into workshops and museums of anatomy to look at bone structure, muscle fatigue, and the human body's overall ability to sustain year after year of competitive, professional sport approaching the age of 40!
I watched the highlights of his most recent match against a competitive Scotland side, one that took the lead deservedly from a bullet header in the six-yard box. Portugal, the country with whom Cristiano lifted the 2016 Euro Championship trophy (more on that later), rallied. After a statistically overbearing game in their favor, the Scots began to wither and fold. This Scotland side did not become the potential European raiders they hoped for, with the likes of McTominay and company almost recoiling into a state of self-destruction, fresh for the cropping of a lurking and waiting Cristiano.
And oblige he did, a countdown began towards the 90 minutes and Cristiano took on the effect of a bludgeoning bulldozer, something was going to burst this ball into the back of the net, even if finesse was left at the door. Statistics are what this man has chased, he loves a number, a milestone, and a new target to be blown out of the water. On the 88th minute as Portuguese hearts began to falter, a whipped ball came cascading into the Scottish barricaded 6-yard box.
...Everyone missed it, goalkeeper included, and in swooped this mightiest of flying eagles. Cristiano Ronaldo, or CR7, or just simply Ronaldo. His 901st competitive goal collided into the waiting crisp white net with a lunging right leg connecting in a tired but adored fashion. Unmatched, Unrivaled and unstoppable in the modern game.
or is it.
While we have witnessed Cristiano receiving award after award, trophy after trophy, and achieving milestone after milestone, there has always been a Messiah not too far from his reach. A small wizard, embodying an adopted Catalan with Argentine heritage, Lionel Messi has consistently thwarted what could have been almost complete world domination. As we conclude this article, we must hark back to that Euro win for Portugal in 2016, arguably Cristiano's proudest achievement aside from the numerous UEFA Champions League winner medals and domination of domestic honors wherever he laid his hat. On top of all that, we have just witnessed Cristiano achieve 1,000,000,000 followers online. What that means as Messi leans over to grab his gleaming Coupe Du Monde winners medal amidst memories of being lifted aloft to greet fellow Argentines draped in pale blue and white stripes is probably the thin line between the two.
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