Whether you want to celebrate Cristiano Ronaldo’s fourth Ballon d’Or award or not, it’s pretty hard to deny how influential a figure he is in world football.
A massive football personality, the Portugal international knows how to make his mark on any game – whether he is scoring iconic penalties before ripping his shirt off or acting as the leading light from the substitutes’ bench as his team-mates go on to earn Euro 2016 glory, he has a habit of turning up for the big moments, even when he’s not on the pitch.
Officially the greatest player in Europe once again, the Real Madrid star will certainly feel confident about helping his side capture the UEFA Champions League trophy for the second consecutive year.
He’s clearly a brilliant attacking player, even at 31 years of age, so let’s examine why the La Liga maestro should concentrate on refining his role as a centre forward.
#1 Ronaldo is getting on – time to conserve his energy
His transition from winger to a more traditional centre forward hasn’t happened overnight, but it’s nonetheless an interesting phenomenon.
Not everyone will always agree on who’s the best player of all time but Ronaldo will forever be mentioned in the same breath as Lionel Messi, Pele, Johan Cruyff, Maradona, Marco van Basten and Zinedine Zidane. However, because he is a truly self-perpetuating model of improvement he will want this new phase of his career to go as smoothly as the rest of it has done.
Plus, he’s not a young guy anymore and although he’s not quite reaching for the walking stick just yet, his role as a striker could help him perform at a high level till his desired age of retirement of 40 years.
Transforming from a galloping winger to an intelligent 18-yard poacher will still allow him to use his exceptional close control, wicked trickery and clinical finishing, but it’ll also complement his guilty pleasure for not exactly busting a lung and should see him avoid more injuries. His youngest years might well be behind him, but his most revolutionary may be still yet to come.
#2 He’s one of the most clinical goalscorers on the planet
On Club World Cup duty with Madrid during the week, Ronaldo netted his 500th career club goal – not bad for a guy who hasn’t always been an out-and-out striker.
He is Los Blancos’ all-time leading goalscorer with 377 strikes and averages 0.73 club goals per game. The Portuguese star is a veritable goal-hungry, lone wolf when he wants to be, and although he went through a bit of a drought at the beginning of the 2016/17 campaign, no-one has yet figured out how to keep him quiet for long.
Class is often said to be permanent, and that is true in Ronaldo’s case than most other players.
Provide him with the right service and he will, more often than not, finish chances, even when the team isn’t experiencing a whole amount of joy against a stubborn defence. He possesses that killer instinct, which he has grafted to hone expertly, and he’s not going to let it slip away anytime soon.
Expect to see him reach yet more incredible milestones in the future because, with a projected nine more years of football to come, he might just reach the 1,000 goal mark. After all, if it sounds too outlandish to happen, you can be sure that will only motivate him further.
#3 His pursuit of UCL glory will spur him on
When you are the leading goalscorer in UEFA Champions League history, it’s easy to ooze confidence on the pitch. Getting there is the hard part.
With 95 goals and counting to his name in Europe’s grandest club competition, Ronaldo has scored more goals than anyone else. Back in the days of the likes of the exceptionally talented Raul Gonzalez Blanco, Filippo Inzaghi and Patrick Kluivert it was difficult to see how anyone could outmuscle them on the all-time chart, but that is precisely what he has done with both Manchester United and Real Madrid.
One gets the feeling that 100 goals on that stage is not very far away at all, especially with a path to the final firmly in his sights. One of the crucial milestones he still surely still wants to cross off his bucket list is winning the UCL back-to-back.
No team has ever managed it before and with so many continuing to doubt him after a bit-part role in the Euro 2016 final as well as a mediocre performance in the 2015/16 UCL final win against Atletico Madrid, he will be raring to be their most effective offensive star between now and the end of May.
To spice things up, Messi is not far behind him with 93 goals – it could well be a straight shootout between them both. Exciting.
#4 Madrid will be able to invest money elsewhere
The big clubs across the continent are always crying out for a star striker. The difference between having a 20-goal-a-season man in your ranks and having a 30-plus expert marksman can mean a lot. Instead of exiting in the quarter-finals of the UCL and winding up as runners-up domestically, it can push you to being champions on both fronts. It’s often as simple as that.
Great seasons are built on great teams, but it takes a special spearhead to put a consistent touch to the free-flowing moves and make the hard work count in and around the 18 and six-yard boxes.
Safe in the knowledge that Ronaldo will again easily reach a staggering amount of goals this season means that they can look to the January transfer window to shore up their defensive back-line or even purchase a creative player like Mesut Ozil.
Time to whip out that worn-out chequebook, Florentino Perez.
#5 Aerial strength will come out better
It’s perhaps a weapon of his which is not discussed as much as it should be, but ‘The Sultan of the Stepover’, as he is sometimes known, is a menacing threat in the air.
Not only does he possess the physicality to muscle himself into the tight spaces necessary to leap for crosses or lofted through balls, but he has the technique when suspended in the air to direct his efforts into the hardest-to-reach spots for goalkeepers.
Arguably, he’s the greatest header of a ball we’ve ever seen.
Not convinced? Cast your minds back to the one he nodded past Wayne Hennessey against Wales in the Euro semi-final. The way he surged into the air before arrowing it into the back of the net was astonishing, even though we knew he had it in his locker.
More of this please, Cristiano.
