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The five-time Ballon d’Or winner’s powers have been on the wane for years, and now he’s doing real damage to his legacy
Cristiano Ronaldo has had some memorable tantrums over the years, but few more childish and embarrassing than his outburst during Al-Nassr’s Saudi Super Cup final defeat against Al-Hilal. Ronaldo gave his team the lead with an instinctive close-range finish just before the break, but Luis Castro’s side completely capitulated in the second half and found themselves on the wrong end of a 4-1 thrashing.
Former Barcelona winger Malcom dealt the final blow after capitalising on a horrendous error from Al-Nassr goalkeeper Bento, which pushed Ronaldo over the edge. The 39-year-old accused his team-mates of ‘sleeping’ as he stood in the centre circle with two hands next to his ear, before making a lewd gesture that appeared to imply they had ‘sh*t themselves’.
It was a pathetic sight. Al-Nassr’s captain, and the highest-paid footballer on the planet, showed an incredible lack of class and self-awareness when they needed him most. There was still 18 minutes of normal time to play when Al-Hilal’s fourth goal went in, and while it would have been a tall order to peg them back, Al-Nassr could have at least saved face.
Unfortunately, this version of Ronaldo only plays for himself. It’s no coincidence that Al-Nassr have not won a single trophy since his ground-breaking arrival in January last year. Ronaldo is in complete denial over the fact he is a shadow of the player he once was, and instead of drawing crowds he now repels them with his immature behaviour as he desperately clings to relevancy in an era that has long passed him by.
All about him
It must be noted that Ronaldo has scored 66 goals in 72 appearances for Al-Nassr, which is an impressive achievement. But the Saudi Pro League is not even close to the same level as Europe’s top five leagues, despite its huge investment in marquee names since Ronaldo’s arrival.
When Ronaldo joined Al-Nassr, they were top of the league. The Portuguese frontman’s goals haven’t made them a better team, on the contrary, everything is now about him.
Al-Ittihad ended up winning the 2022-23 title, before Al-Hilal stormed to the top of the table last season, finishing 14 points clear of Al-Nassr without losing a single game. And Ronaldo has let his frustration get the better of him after each damaging set-back.
In February, Ronaldo was suspended for directing an obscene gesture at Al-Shabab fans after being taunted with chants for his eternal rival Lionel Messi, and two months later, he was sent off for a blatant elbow on defender Ali Al-Bulaihi as Al-Nassr slumped to another loss against Al-Hilal.
No one would have been surprised by Ronaldo’s actions on Sunday. He even stormed down the tunnel without picking up his runners’ up medal, as if he had no part in Al-Nassr’s failure. What kind of example is that for the younger players in the squad?
Ronaldo has become a poor role model for the next generation, which would have been unthinkable when he was setting unprecedented new standards of excellence in the prime years of his career. He’s also become a figure of ridicule on social media, and another 50-goal season for Al-Nassr won’t change that.
‘Ain’t going nowhere’
All that brings us to the key question on the lips of most footballing purists: why on earth has Ronaldo not retired? The trophies have dried up and he has been widely criticised for his performances over the last four years.
There were clear signs of decline in Ronaldo’s final season at Juventus before he saw a glorious homecoming at Manchester United quickly turn sour. For all his boasting about achieving everything in European football, Ronaldo had no choice but to move to a new continent. No other top clubs wanted to take a gamble on the veteran striker after his explosive Old Trafford exit.
Tangible success has still proven elusive for Ronaldo in the Middle East, and will likely do so again this season, because the gulf in quality between Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal is huge. Another 12 months of failure and negative headlines probably won’t lead to an epiphany, though.
“I can’t give too much away but I’ve been doing a few bits with Cristiano behind the scenes and he’s playing as long as he wants,” Ronaldo’s former United team-mate Rio Ferdinand said on Rio Reacts last week. “He ain’t going nowhere. And I was gobsmacked. And listen, you’ll see it in time, but minimum three years I think he plays for again.”
More suffering to come for Portugal
Ronaldo’s current contract expires next year, but it has been reported that Al-Nassr will take up their option to extend that agreement through to 2026. And if Ferdinand’s claim is accurate, Ronaldo is also targeting a place in Portugal’s next World Cup squad.
It would be a travesty for the Seleccao should Ronaldo get his wish, because the exciting crop of young talent in their squad will once again be forced to take a backseat, but it is entirely possible if Roberto Martinez is still in charge. Portugal were among the pre-tournament favourites heading into Euro 2024, but massively underperformed on their way to a painful quarter-final exit at the hands of France, and Ronaldo started every single game.
The Sporting CP academy graduate didn’t score a single goal, his involvement in Portugal’s general build-up play was almost non-existent, and his free-kick execution was woeful. But he did get plenty of camera time for his awful body language as he moaned at his colleagues when they didn’t pass to him and threw his hands up in anger every time an attack came to nothing.
Just as he’s been doing at Al-Nassr for the last 18 months, Ronaldo humiliated himself. “I think the way he behaved the whole competition – playing the last game against Georgia when they had already won the group and playing the most minutes out of all the outfield players when he wasn’t up to it anymore – was one of the most outrageous acts of selfishness I have ever seen in a team game,” former Germany and Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann told RTE after the tournament. “If you behave like this in society, work or in a team game then you will get problems. It shows he played an individual game in a team sport for the last 20 years. That shows how good he is but he could only do it because he was the best.”
Ronaldo’s real fuel
“The most important thing about the journey I’ve been on is the enthusiasm I still have for being here,” Ronaldo told Portuguese broadcaster RTP when pressed on when he will retire from international football during the Euros. “It’s 20 years representing and playing with the national team, bringing joy to people, to the family, my children. That is what motivates me most.”
You’d be hard-pressed to find a football fan who enjoyed watching Ronaldo meander around the pitch aimlessly in Germany. Indeed, there’s been very little to admire about the five-time Ballon d’Or winner’s performances since his first few months back at Old Trafford, when he was scoring last-minute winners that temporarily papered over the fact he had weakened Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team as a collective.
Ronaldo’s real fuel has always been external validation. He was happiest when standing on the stage with the Golden Ball in his arms, and the league titles and Champions League crowns that helped bring him that individual recognition paled in comparison.
But he’s had his time. The days of Ronaldo and Messi battling for the GOAT title are over, with the latter now plying his trade in MLS with Inter Miami. Messi is also in the last chapter of his career, but unlike Ronaldo, he’s winding down graciously and accepts that Father Time is catching up with him.
The longer Ronaldo refuses to do the same, the more damage he does to his legacy. He’s simply not good enough to get away with the constant histrionics anymore.
Ego out of control
Gary Neville has suggested that Ronaldo may not even be capable of that level of introspection. “This dynamic of unbelievable desire, self-fight, determination – all those things that you love about him [Cristiano Ronaldo] – how overbearing is it for the rest of the players and the manager and the country?” the United legend said on The Overlap after Portugal’s Euros defeat to France.
“There’s two things – one, the player sometimes knows when to let it go, but there are some players who don’t and need telling but there is an element of who tells him [Ronaldo]. I don’t think he’s got it in him.”
There are too many ‘yes men’ around Ronaldo these days, like Martinez and Castro, who have been guilty of enabling him. As a result, Ronaldo’s ego is now completely out of control.
GOAL can confirm that a large section of the Saudi media has also grown tired of the country’s poster boy as he prepares to kick-off a new league season against Al-Raed on Thursday. Ronaldo is still a commercial powerhouse, but that shouldn’t mean he is entitled to play every minute of every game for Al-Nassr, who must also start preparing for life after Ronaldo; by which point they do not want to be merely also-rans in the Pro League title picture.
The bottom line
Ironically, the only way for Ronaldo to get the adulation he craves is to announce his retirement from football. We have already reached a point where people take pleasure in his struggles, and the final few chapters of his story will serve as proof that it’s better to bow out at the top.
Ronaldo has held on for too long, but he can still redeem himself. If he were to finally admit his career is over, the world could celebrate his remarkable achievements and reflect on a golden period that will probably never be repeated.
At his very best, Ronaldo was the most devastatingly brilliant centre-forward to ever grace the pitch, which the numbers back up. He didn’t quite eclipse Messi in the ability stakes, but he pushed him close for over a decade, and gave us an endless list of unforgettable moments that will stand the test of time.
The purists who value the impact great players like Ronaldo have had on the game don’t want to see him keep trying to roll the clock back. He’s not the best anymore, and that’s okay. Sadly, we will probably have to endure a few more years of cringe-worthy Ronaldo displays before he comes to that realisation.
