The defining image of this Real team isn’t a priestly boot room or the intellectualism of total football. The defining image of this team is Cristiano Ronaldo’s absOh. He’s here again. The man with the rapacious desire for annihilating success in his eyes. In the end it was a strange kind of glory for Cristiano Ronaldo on Tuesday evening as Real Madrid progressed precariously but also, somehow, inevitably to another Champions League final.There has been a lot of talk about Ronaldo’s stripped-down role in his late prime. But this was a performance of such minimalism it might have been etched on a grain of rice, a vision of the ultimate endgame some years from now whereby Ronaldo is wheeled on...
Striker was poor in United’s defeat of City in Manchester derby but time may prove he is no ‘flat-track bully’, as it has with many a player – even Cristiano RonaldoIt was a shot heard around the world. First Cristiano Ronaldo leapt, twisted and arched his back, as if performing the Fosbury flop. Then came the crack of boot on ball, lace on leather, delirium and endless dissection.But while Ronaldo’s stunning bicycle kick against Juventus took the breath away, watching him deliver in the Champions League – and again in the Madrid derby on Sunday – came as no surprise. Nowadays he follows the line from Ecclesiastes to the letter: What has been done before will be done again. Related:...
The Real Madrid star conjured up a magical strike to leave even Zinedine Zidane drooling. But how did it compare to some of the best acrobatic efforts of the past?It was a goal that even took Zinedine Zidane’s breath away. Launching himself at Dani Carvajal’s cross as it looped across the penalty area, Cristiano Ronaldo and his right boot connected with the ball at the astonishing height of two metres and 77 centimetres off the ground – nine feet in old money – and then watched as it sailed past a helpless Gianluigi Buffon.Clasping his head in disbelief on the touchline before turning away with a disbelieving smile, Zidane was not the only one to question what he had just...
With Cristiano Ronaldo 33 on Monday and Lionel Messi the wrong side of 30, who are Europe’s bright prospects shaping up to be inheritors of the Ballon d’Or duopoly’s crown?“A very good question,” mused Cristiano Ronaldo as he basked in the glory of his second successive Ballon d’Or and fifth overall back in December. “I see some with great potential: Asensio, Mbappé, Neymar, Dembélé, Hazard, Rashford … and some others. In the next generation there are at least 10 players with very, very great potential.”It’s more than a decade since Milan’s Kaká became the last player outside of the Ronaldo-Lionel Messi duopoly to walk away with football’s highest individual honour. But with the Real Madrid forward celebrating his 33rd birthday...
The preening Portuguese beat the more humble Lionel Messi to yet another Fifa award last week but does he ever notice that football is a team game?Last Monday the Best Fifa Football Awards were held in London – leading one to ask when can one expect the Worst Fifa Football Awards, featuring YouTube videos of missed sitters and theatrical simulation. All the legends were there: Diego Maradona, Ronaldo (the Brazilian one), Phillip Schofield. It was the “biggest night on planet football”, as the Sky presenter said, full of “excitement, glamour and gossip”, making it sound as though it were an overblown gathering of prima donnas on the red, sorry green, carpet. Which, on reflection, is an unerringly precise summary of the...