After Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure from Manchester United, he failed in more unprofessional behavior in Qatar.
How was everything?
The conclusion of Portugal’s World Cup campaign would feel familiar to Red Devils fans. This ended with the Portuguese walking straight down the tunnel after a desperately disappointing defeat. No applause for the winners. No attempt to console teammates. A no-show of thanks to traveling supporters. Because it wasn’t about them. It was all about the Portuguese striker. Just like it’s been all along.
Before Qatar even started 2022, Fernandes and Santos were showing visible signs of frustration with Cristiano Ronaldo‘s press concerns. The Portugal captain even made an impromptu appearance at a media conference and asked reporters to stop asking him questions about teammates about him.
A little about Cristiano Ronaldo
A ghostly chance of it, though. Cristiano was the only thing anyone cared about. Cristiano Ronaldo was history. As the striker made himself history with a horribly ill-advised and horribly timed interview with Morgan on the eve of Qatar 2022. The interview achieved its goal, of course. Gutted almost everyone got together with United Ronaldo successfully pressured the club into releasing him, which is what the player has been aiming for since the summer.
However, this did not go over well with some of the player’s teammates. Cristiano received an unsurprisingly chilly reception from Bruno, which he tried to pass off as good-natured banter. However, when even Cancelo seemed to disagree with Cristiano in training, it became clear that all was not well in the camp. Cristiano created an unnecessary distraction, a media frenzy that Selecao really could have done without entering the tournament they had a serious shot at winning.
The hope was that once the games got under way, Portugal could quickly put controversy behind them. However, it was then that things took a surprising turn. It’s been clear for a few years now that time is catching up with Cristiano, which is perfectly understandable. The player is 37 years old. Ronaldo cannot do what he once did. It is admitted that the most. So, the striker ditched the extra stepovers to focus on finishing. Such a basic approach is likely to always prove unsustainable in this modern era of high press and fluid lines of attack.
What’s surprising, though, is how quickly things have unraveled his game in recent months. Cristiano Ronaldo scored 32 goals for club and country last season. The striker has managed just four since August, half of which came against Sheriff in the Europa League. The decline was as significant as it was devastating. Like watching a boxer get old in the ring during the night.
There was always suspicion that Ronaldo would prove a poor fit for Tem Hag the Red Devils of the Ten Witches, so it didn’t come as a shock to see Erik realize United were better off without Cristiano in the starting lineup. What they didn’t expect, though, was for Santos to follow suit. At least not in the middle of this World Cup. Portugal hoped to have enough hard-working attackers like Silva, Felix and Bruno to compensate for Cristiano’s lack of mobility.
However, during the group stage, it became clear that Cristiano was holding Portugal back. Ronaldo may have netted at their start of the group against Ghana converting a penalty that the player had earned himself, but he contributed very little overall. Worse again, the attacker no longer carried the same attack threat. Time player selection has been disabled. Cristiano Ronaldo has been repeatedly caught offside. Even the player’s touch failed him.
It was saying that Cristiano Ronaldo started against South Korea, given Santos elected to the bench by most of his first team players. The hope was that Cristiano was just rusty after staying for most of the final few months of his second spell at Old Trafford on the bench. The views were that the extra minutes might help the player rediscover some accuracy.
Cristiano instead endured a nightmare evening playing the role in South Korea changing the game by inadvertently setting up their goal equalizer. When Cristiano Ronaldo graciously stepped back halfway through the first half, the player reacted with an irritable display of dissatisfaction with Santos. Ronaldo muttered to himself: “You’re always in such a f*cking rush to take me down.”