'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Cristiano Ronaldo is one part of the two-man act that have redefined how we view football and footballers. One of the greatest footballers of the decade (one can even make the argument that he is the greatest European player of all time) his career is one that has seen him go from the streets of Madeira to the heart of Madrid – via a memorable 6 years in Manchester – to become the face of modern football.
Here we take a look at 6 games that defined the man we now love and adore (or hate and call penaldo – whatever floats your boat)
6. Sporting Lisbon vs Manchester United – Friendly, 2003
”I thought ‘Bloody Hell!’”
Watching the match from the comfort of his warm home in Cheshire, Gary Neville couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The young wispy kid in Sporting Lisbon green and white was rampaging up and down the flank tormenting Neville’s deputy John O’Shea. Rio Ferdinand claimed that O'Shea was "sitting there like he needed some oxygen" while captain Roy Keane went further. "Sheasy ended up seeing the doctor at half time because he was actually having dizzy spells."
All these may be slight, retrospective, exaggerations on the part of the United legends – but the affect that a young Cristiano Ronaldo was having on them was palpable. Having burst on to the sightscreens of clubs all across Europe just the year before (he had already spent three days at Arsenal’s Colney training ground) he was wanted by most everyone. Sir Alex Ferguson, though, had set his sights on him – and when the fiery Scotsman did that, he usually got what he wanted.
The lads in the dressing room talked about him constantly," said Ferguson, "and on the plane back they urged me to sign him - that's how highly they rated him. He is one of the most exciting young players I've ever seen."
Sign him he did, and the rest, as the cliche goes, is history.
5. Portugal vs Greece – Final, Euro 2004
To be completely honest, Ronaldo wasn’t even the best young player in the tournament – that honour went to his younger Manchester United teammate, Wayne Rooney, who was utterly electric, and nigh on unplayable till that unfortunate injury – but it was the tournament that matured him as a player, and as a man. Playing alongside the great Golden Generation of Portugal, Luis Figo and Rui Costa giving it one final go, he epitomised Portugal’s tournament. Flashy, entertaining and undoubtedly brilliant for the course of the tournament – till they reached the final.
He scored his first international goal in the opener, a thumping header against Greece (although in defeat), and continued his good from throughout... scoring the opener as the hosts beat Netherlands 2-1 in a stunning semifinal.
And then the final happened. Ronaldo had a frustrating game – and although littered with moments of creative genius, and although he played the fully ninety with a commitment that doesn’t always get the credit it deserves, he couldn’t alter the result... even missing a glorious one-on-one opportunity at the fag end of the match.
Those tears that streamed down his face were to define a decade and more of pain, agony and heartbreak as he gradually took over the burden of Portugal’s never-ending expectations from the shoulders of the Golden Generation all by his lonesome.
4. Manchester United vs Arsenal – Semi-finals, UEFA Champions League 2009
This was peak Ronaldo. This was what you got when you mixed the sheer entertainment of his youth and the unparalleled efficiency of the Ronaldo we know now. This was unstoppable Ronaldo.
Arsenal weren’t all that shabby a side – you don’t make the semifinals of the Champions league by being that – but they were eviscerated at the Emirates that night by a man who was without a shadow of a doubt Lionel Messi’s equal as the best player in the world. He scored a worldie – a 40 yard hammer-shot of a freekick from a ridiculuous angle – and the counter-attack to end all counter-attacks. In reality he could have bagged five that night.
This came at the end of a season where he wanted to force a may to Real Madrid, and the last three months of his time at United saw some of the best footballing displays England has ever seen. This was the zenith.
3. Real Madrid vs Wolfsburg – Quarter-finals, UEFA Champions League 2016
Woflsburg had shocked Real Madrid, and Europe along with them, with a comprehensive 2-0 defeat at home in the first leg of their quarterfinal clash. Faving an uphill task at the Bernabeu, Ronaldo went about displaying just what he could do on a football field.
Over the previous 7 years, Ronaldo had set about breaking just about every record he could get his hands on, and though there were many displays of his pure talent across competitions and against more illustrious opponents, this one had it all.
His oft-underrated off-the-ball-movement saw him glide away from his markers and undetected at the far post was left with a free tap-in. He often gets a lot of brickbats for the number of goals he scores this way – but those are generally from people who quite simply can’t understand just how had it is work yourself into positions like this.
His second came from the one undisputed thing that he does better than anybody else – heading. An intelligent run again left his marker stranded and he eschewed his traditional power-header to glance one into the far post.
His third, though, was the best of them all. With time running out, and Madrid in desperate need of a third to avoid extra-time and the lottery of penalties, up stepped Ronaldo for a freekick just outside the box – and he curled it brilliantly into the bottom corner of the net.
2. Portugal vs France – Final, Euro 2016
His second Euro final, and he was in tears again. Captain, and talisman, of his national team now, Ronaldo had had to be stretchered off just before the half-hour mark. But after that, one leg in a cast, he hobbled around the touchline feeding his heart and soul to overcome his pain and transmitting pure passion into his teammates on the pitch.
He had played well across the tournament, but fate had been cruel to him at the last second. Or so it seemed.
Inspired by what Ronaldo had told him just before Extra-time, Eder had believed himself and his brilliant shot won Portugal their first ever major international trophy.
Sure, I can hear you mutter, he didn’t even play this match, he wasn’t even at his best in the tournament, but after 12 years those tears had finally turned. From sorrow to joy.
Those things matter.
1. Real Madrid vs Kashima Antlers – Final, Club World Cup 2016
Again, he was not at his best that day... and the man scored a hattrick and walked away with the man-of-the-match award. He’s been like this for a while now, all failed dribbles and half-stepovers that really have no effect whatsoever – but at the end of the day he wins Madrid the match.
Sure, he’s had moments of brilliance... one even got me to write this: Cristiano Ronaldo, an elastico, and the beauty of a singular moment, but those have come far and few between. And no game defined what Ronaldo has now become – a pure goal-scoring, game-winning machine shorn of all unnecessary adornments and flashes of that old trickster – quite like this one.
The goals were typical Ronaldo – the first a ruthlessly dispatched penalty, the second a wonderfully neat finish that came at the end of a lovely run that caught Kashima unaware and the third a superb poacher’s finish delivered with trademark flourish into the roof of the net.
