In the absence of Juventus’s season being a success, their star man grabbed some individual glory for himself Cristiano Ronaldo achieved perfection on Sunday. One goal with his head, another with his right foot and finally a third with his left. A perfect hat-trick, in the language of football. Perhaps it felt a little less flawless to the Cagliari goalkeeper Alessio Cragno, who bled from the chin when the forward’s studs caught him in the 14th minute, before the last two of those goals were scored.It was a challenge that deserved a red card, Ronaldo raising his boot above shoulder height as he challenged for a cross. The referee Gianpaolo Calvarese opted for a yellow. A sliding doors moment that...
Willingness to believe in the cult of the winner is worsening the plight of Barcelona and Juventus On Tuesday, Juventus might overcome a 2-1 deficit against Porto in the Champions League. On Wednesday, Barcelona almost certainly won’t come back from 4-1 down to beat Paris Saint-Germain. Both clubs were comprehensively outplayed in the first legs, both are burdened by an ageing and expensive superstar, both have found the cracks in their financial planning exposed by the pandemic. At some point the narratives of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will decouple, but not now, not yet.Football deals badly with mortality. It can be brutal in dealing with those with whom it has finished. Bill Shankly couldn’t even tell Ian St John...
In passing an international century, Ronaldo has constructed a monument to himself that may never be surpassedEat, sleep, score against Armenia, repeat. And repeat. Then repeat again for the next 13 years until there are no more rungs left to climb, and the entire Fifa-mapped world, from Oceana to Concacaf, has been coloured a shade of Cristiano.Yes, I watched all 101 of Cristiano Ronaldo’s international goals so you don’t have to. It was a brilliantly absorbing watch too, a flick-book version of the journey from there to here, with a sense of the past beginning to stir, older Ronaldos coming into view, Ronaldos beyond the Ronaldos. Related: Juve’s punt on Sarri and Ronaldo typifies superclubs’ vast carelessness | Jonathan Wilson...
The two do not fit together and so the Italians’ push for Champions League glory seems even more like a last throw of the dice In 2015, Max Allegri led Juventus to the double. In 2016, Max Allegri led Juventus to the double. In 2017, Max Allegri led Juventus to the double. In 2018, Max Allegri led Juventus to the double. In 2019, Max Allegri did not lead Juventus to the double, although he did lead them to an eighth straight Scudetto.Failure to win last season’s Coppa Italia was not why Allegri was ousted last summer. He probably would have been replaced even if he had landed a fifth double in five seasons, because this is the pitch of absurdity...
Cristiano Ronaldo has Ali Daei’s unheralded milestone in sight, which would suitably crown a unique type of brillianceFamously, the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il only ever played one game of golf. In 1994 state media reported Kim had picked up a club for the first time at the country’s only golf course. Happily he took to the sport instantly, completing his debut round in a world-record 38 under par with 11 holes in one. At which point he announced he was retiring from golf and would never play again.It is of course a terrible blow for golf to lose such a talent, and tantalising to imagine just how good the Supreme Commander Of The People’s Army could have become. Worse,...