It was Real Madrid against AS Roma in the Champions League on the 17th of February 2016 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. The first half ended without any shots on goal by either side. It was Zinedine Zidane’s first game managing Real Madrid in the Champions League and in a competition he graced years ago as a player.
In the 57th minute, Toni Kroos picked up the ball in the centre of the pitch and floated one to the half way line to full-back Marcelo. They say the greatest players can see pictures in their head, they know how to make the move, it’s already in their heads.
In the movie ‘Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait’, the quotes on the screen read, ''Sometimes when you arrive in the stadium you feel that everything has already been decided. The script has already been written.”
”I remember playing in another place, at another time, when something amazing happened. Someone passed the ball to me and before even touching it, I knew exactly what was going to happen. I knew I was going to score.”
The Brazilian controlled the ball on his chest and looked up to see Cristiano Ronaldo already starting his run – the Portuguese star had visualised the move in his head – Marcelo promptly passed the ball into the space ahead of Ronaldo.
The Portuguese forward let the ball run while making sure he was quick enough to get it, then in two magical touches, he first flicked it with his left, behind his own leg and away from his marker Florenzi to tee it up on the edge of the box; the next was a trademark Cristiano Ronaldo bullet of a strike that flew off his boot with power and precision, like an arrow, into the opposition’s goal. It was the first shot on target in the game and Ronaldo broke the deadlock.
Real went on to win 2-0 in Rome, Jese scoring the second, and then 2-0 again at the Bernabeu where Ronaldo scored again, becoming the first player to score 90 Champions League goals. Real were through to the quarter-finals, thanks to a goal from Ronaldo in each leg.
The mercurial Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, or simply Cristiano Ronaldo, the modern day gladiator of the world of football, who never ceases to astound, is an enigma. If Europe was still under Marcus Aurelius' Roman empire and football was played at the colosseum, Ronaldo would surely be Maximus Decimus Meridius, maybe a certain Francesco Totti would disagree with that.
But although Maximus, portrayed by Russell Crowe in 'The Gladiator' is a fictional character, Ronaldo is real and is closest to being a super-human on the football pitch as can be. That night in Rome, after his goal, all that was left was for Ronaldo to say was “Are you not entertained?”
His Rome is Madrid, his colosseum is the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu and his people are the Madridistas.
It's hardly certain how much work the Madeira-born boy put into nurturing his inherent gift of talent, but it should suffice to say an infinite amount. It’s hard to forget the scrawny Portuguese boy with noodle-like hair (or whatever they were) who debuted for Manchester United all those years ago as an 18-year-old; no one watching the game that night at Old Trafford or at home would have thought that the wiry teenager would go on to achieve as much as he has now.
As Manchester United legend George Best himself put it in 2003, "There have been a few players described as 'the new George Best' over the years, but this is the first time it's been a compliment to me."
A lot has changed since that debut, apart from his various hair-cuts through the years and hard work on his physique, he has picked up every trophy in both England and Spain, and every personal accolade that is possible in a career as a footballer. For the next 13 years, Ronaldo etched himself into footballing folklore forever, scoring a remarkable 690 goals in 500 appearances.
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Of course, the comparison with fellow superstar Lionel Messi refuses to cease like a bad EDM song that is over-played at every bar or even worse, gets stuck in your head. They're both one of a kind players who play differently – different style of play, different assets, different weaknesses; what is certain is that both are a cut above the rest, almost in another planet altogether.
For the now 31-year-old Ronaldo, 2016 was no different when it came to trophies and awards.
The ‘El Clasico’ – Ronaldo wins bragging rights for Real Madrid
In April 2016, Ronaldo, dubbed ‘La Maquina’, meaning ‘The Machine’ rather appropriately by his Real Madrid team-mates, broke a massive 39-game unbeaten run by Barcelona in the El Clasico. In the 85th minute of the game, Gareth Bale hung one up at the far post on a Real counter-attack and the ball seemed to take forever to fall to earth, but when it did, there was Ronaldo.
He chested it down, calm and composed, and hit the ball into the Barcelona net. Ronaldo won the Clasico (2-1 on the night) for the Madridistas and gave Zidane his first ever victory in the fierce derby as manager.
Barcelona did go on to win La Liga in May and rightly so, but Ronaldo and Real Madrid would do better.
Ronaldo’s Hat-Trick saves Real
Shortly after the Clasico victory, in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals in the same month, Wolfsburg won 2-0 beating Real Madrid at the Volkswagen Arena in Germany. As the second leg began at the Bernabeu in Madrid, Real had to win. As the saying goes, ‘Cometh the hour, cometh the man’; in the middle of the first half, Ronaldo scored two goals within 90 seconds, first a simple tap in from a poor cross by Carvajal that found him unmarked and the next a glancing header from a Toni Kroos corner.
It was 2-2 on aggregate going into the second half. Ronaldo wasn’t done yet, with a look of intense, devilish concentration he stepped up for a free-kick in the 77th minute after Modric was fouled. He then hit it, not with too much power but with inch-perfect calculation, the ball bounced in front of goal and sped into the net. A hat-trick for Ronaldo, his 16th goal in 10 Champions League games, 3-0 to Real Madrid and 3-2 on aggregate. They were through to the semi-finals.
Los Blancos then beat Manchester City 1-0 on aggregate at the Bernabeu via a Gareth Bale cross that deflected off Fernandinho to seal their spot in the final.
The Champions League Final
At the end of May 2016, in Milan, Italy, Real Madrid lined up against city rivals Atletico in the Champions League final. The Madridistas cried prophetically before the game, “Hasta el final, vamos Real,” as the slogan goes – “Right to the end, let’s go Real”. Sergio Ramos put Real ahead after losing Stefan Savic and prodding the ball into Jan Oblak’s net. Real were on their way to glory once again, courtesy Ramos, who broke Atletico’s spirit 2 years before this in Lisbon.
Then Antoine Griezmann hit the post with a penalty in the 47th-minute but in the 79th minute. Yannick Carrasco who met Gabi’s cross, equalised to make it 1-1. Ronaldo had a quiet game by his high standards but would have the final say. just as he did in the Clasico, as the game went to penalties after a gruelling extra-time period.
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Juanfran took Atletico’s 4th penalty but hit the base of the post. Ronaldo stepped up and placed the ball on the spot. This was to win the Champions League for the Madridistas. He took a few calculated steps back and stood, with his legs apart, in the way he usually does before free-kicks, time stood still for a few moments. He had to score, he just had to. He then took a deep breath, like a Bruce Lee pre-fight ritual and put his head down and ran to the ball.
After the whole game, after the long season, as the myriad spotlights and cameras flickered in the night, Ronaldo could be seen without his shirt celebrating with his team-mates. He had done it, he slotted past Oblak into the net and handed Real Madrid a historic 11th Champions League title.
The season had ended on a high once again. Zinedine Zidane had won a Champions League trophy for Real Madrid after debuting in the competition as the manager just 4 months ago.
He said after the game, “When you win something as big as the Champions League, it means a lot – for the players and the technical staff.”
“I dreamt of this – I'm very positive. When the president gave me this chance, with this group of players ... when you have players of this calibre, with this talent, you can achieve something big like we did tonight,” Zidane said.
“I'm happy because I've been part of this great club for a long time now, first as a player, then as assistant and now as head coach. I'm really very proud to be in this great family.”
Carlo Ancelotti had told him something before the game, as Zidane recalled. “Carlo Ancelotti said to me: ‘If you have a chance of winning as head coach, you'll see that it feels nothing like winning the Champions League as a player,’ said the Frenchman.
Ronaldo won it as a player, for the third time in his career. He was ever-present throughout the Champions League campaign, although Atletico negated him in the final in normal time.
“Cristiano wasn't injured. He was there, as were all the other players, and he's given us the victory. He's OK, he battled it out, ran a lot, and he's always been very positive – he's always helped his team-mates. We spoke a bit about which penalty he'd take, but that was it,” Zidane said after the final, it was the decisive decision.
And with the last kick of the ball of the 2016 Champions League, Ronaldo had won the greatest prize in club football yet again.
Euro 2016
The summer in France began with Europe’s finest international teams lining up for Euro 2016. Nobody gave Portugal a chance, they were the dark horses before the tournament. Ronaldo would captain the side in the tournament setting a number of records.
He scored 2 in the 3-3 draw against Hungary in the group stages, later set up Ricardo Quaresma’s winning goal in extra-time against Croatia in the round of 16, and would go on to score the winning penalty against Poland in the quarter-final shoot-out.
Much had been said about Ronaldo’s lack of goals from open play in the tournament. He had just come off the back of an intensely long season where Real Madrid lifted the Champions League trophy, yet the world expected more and being the person that he is, Ronaldo would deliver.
Ronaldo heads Portugal to the final; injury in the final
In the semi-final, Portugal were up against surprise package Wales and Ronaldo would face against his Real team-mate Gareth Bale. In the 50th minute, as the ball was played short from a corner to full-back Raphael Guerreiro, Ronaldo was lurking ominously in the box.
When the ball was finally crossed in, Ronaldo leapt high in the air and with some remarkable hang-time, met the ball ferociously to head into the Wales net. Portugal went on to win 2-0 that night to book a spot in the Euro 2016 final in Paris. The headline in The Sun the next day read: ‘Cristiano Ronaldo’s superhuman leap sent Wales back down to Earth and landed Portugal a spot in the final of Euro 2016’.
It was super-human indeed – Ronaldo leapt 2 ft 6 inches off the ground, 8 ft 7 inches in the air, with a hang-time of 0.85 seconds, heading the ball at a speed of 44.3 MPH.
In the final of Euro 2016, Ronaldo’s game ended prematurely on 24 minutes after Dimitri Payet clattered hard and possibly deliberately into the Portuguese captain. The former Manchester United man was left shattered and in tears as he was stretchered off in the final. His game had ended but his influence did not.
He was seen on camera yelling and urging his team-mates on from the touchline. He kept shouting instructions to his team-mates even with a bandaged leg almost as if he had taken up the role of the manager. Portuguese substitute Eder finally scored the winner in extra time on 109 minutes to give Portugal a major international trophy after many failed attempts.
Ronaldo lifted the legendary Henri Delaunay Trophy and while speaking after the final said delightedly, "No one believed in us,"
"I had already won everything with clubs. I lacked something with the national team. Portugal have deserved this after many years of sacrifice,” he said.
"It was not the final I wanted, but I am very happy. It is a trophy for all the Portuguese, for all immigrants, all the people who believed in us, so I am very happy and very proud," he concluded.
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He finally captained his national team to victory in a major international tournament.
Ronaldo ended the tournament making history as the joint-highest Euro finals goal scorer, level on 9 goals with Michel Platini, the most Euro finals appearances ever (21), the most appearances for Portugal (133), the first player to score in four Euro final tournaments and the all-time leading Euro goal-scorer (qualifiers included).
The 2016/17 season
This season has not been the Portuguese forward’s best thus far, he has only scored 12 goals and racked up 6 assists in the La Liga and Champion’s League in 2016/17. However, he did set a new record for most hat-tricks by a player in La Liga by putting 3 past Alaves in October 2016. He made it a record 38 hat-tricks in La Liga and it was his 43rd career hat-trick.
He was then rewarded with a new contract by Real Madrid, which will keep him at the club for the next five years until 2021. The Los Blancos talisman now earns a huge 350,000 pounds a week.
But the highlight of Ronaldo's 2016/17 campaign so far, was his 39th hat-trick which he managed in a significant game – The Madrid derby against Atletico, in November 2016. ‘La-Maquina’ was unstoppable that night and Real won 3-0 and all three goals were scored by Ronaldo himself.
Ronaldo would go on to lift the Club World Cup as well after scoring a hat-trick in the final against Kashima Antlers. Speaking after the game, the Real Madrid talisman said ‘everybody expects too much from him’.
The Ballon d’Or
In the same week, as the players waited patiently in the hall, there were surely a number of thoughts circling the front-runners – Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Antoine Greizmann and Luis Suarez’s – minds before the result was announced for the 2016 Ballon d’Or award.
Ronaldo was named the winner of the 2016 Ballon d’Or, his fourth such trophy. In truth, there was only one winner for the prestigious award the past year.
While speaking after winning the award Ronaldo paid tribute to his team-mates, “I always want to be the best and I work hard and make sacrifices to achieve that. It's really significant for me to have won an award like this one. Obviously, the team comes first and had I not won anything with Real Madrid or Portugal, I wouldn't be receiving this award."
2016 – The Year of Cristiano Ronaldo
The little boy from Madeira never stopped fighting his whole life. He came full circle last year, winning nearly everything possible for club, country and personally. 2016 was the year of Cristiano Ronaldo.
He ended the calendar year of 2016 with 59 goals and 32 assists in 62 appearances for club and country. 51 goals and 25 assists in 51 appearances for his club, Real Madrid, and 8 goals and 7 assists in 11 appearances for Portugal.
Also Read: Cristiano Ronaldo claims it is difficult to win with Portugal than with Argentina, Brazil or Germany
When he was asked after winning the Ballon d’Or award about his age, Ronaldo had this to say: “It’s a totally normal thing. Not only for me. With age, every human loses something but gains something else,” he told France Football.
“You have to be intelligent. To train as well as possible. It’s not a sprint, but a marathon. You have to use your head,” said Ronaldo.
Then after thinking a bit and smiling, he quite aptly replied, "This has possibly been the best year of my career, both on a team and individual level.”
He was right.
