LONG LIVE THE KING
“RONALDO IS OBSESSED WITH WINNING AND IS STILL ONE OF THE BEST IN THE WORLD – THERE IS ONE OUTCOME HERE”
Cristiano Ronaldo took a deep breath, steadied himself, then fired the free-kick towards goal. He was 25 yards out, but his low effort arrowed past Shay Given into the net. His 118th and final goal for Manchester United had arrived at home to Manchester City, to all but seal a third straight Premier League title for the Red Devils.
The reigning European champions had also just reached a second successive Champions League final, courtesy of Ronaldo’s blistering Emirates brace against Arsenal five days earlier. City were trudging to 10th place in the top flight – they’d not finished above their rivals for 18 years, going back to 1991. They’d never even been close.
United’s dominance was total, and CR7 was officially the planet’s best footballer – the only person ever to win the FIFA World Player of the Year award while plying his trade on English soil. “I’m the first, second and third best player in the world,” he declared back then, with typical modesty. He’s won the award four more times since, on the way to four more Champions League titles, and 551 goals in 572 games for Real Madrid and Juventus.
During 12 years away from Old Trafford, though, the balance of power has shifted, almost definitively. Since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013, United have finished below City for eight consecutive seasons. Had Ronaldo moved to the Etihad this summer, the humiliation would have been complete.
Instead, the Portuguese followed his heart and diverted to Old Trafford, in a bid to bring back the glory days. City thought they were gaining a striker – instead they have gained an enemy more powerful and determined than anything they’ve faced in Manchester for quite some time. Ronaldo has returned… and he wants his Premier League title back.
MOVE OVER, OLE
Had Ferguson not intervened back in 2006, Ronaldo might never have won a Premier League title at all. The 21-year-old had decided to leave Old Trafford that summer, before his manager travelled to Vale do Lobo on the Algarve for a monumental meeting. “You’re one of the bravest players to come to Manchester United – walking away isn’t courage,” Ferguson told his young charge.
It was Ferguson who’d decided Ronaldo should have the No.7 shirt when he arrived at United – the Portuguese prodigy asked for 28, the jersey he wore at Sporting, but CR7 quickly dazzled in his new number. “He almost retired me,” Ole Gunnar Solskjaer joked recently, recalling how they’d played on opposite wings when Ronaldo made his first start for the club at home to Wolves in August 2003. The teenager’s tendency to swap flanks mid-match meant Solskjaer had to keep doing the same, putting extra strain on a knee problem he’d been struggling with. The Norwegian missed most of the next two years through injury and was never quite the same player again.
Despite his obvious talent, Ronaldo’s first three years at United delivered no league titles. The Red Devils didn’t progress beyond the last 16 of the Champions League: even crashing out in the group stage in 2005-06 after defeat against Benfica, when Ronaldo earned a ban for directing a middle-finger gesture at heckling home fans ‘welcoming’ the winger back to Lisbon.
His relationship with Ruud van Nistelrooy had also been difficult – the Dutchman grew frustrated at the wideman’s lack of service, leading to a row where Ronaldo was told to go and talk to ‘his dad’, a jibe intended to reference his close relationship with United assistant Carlos Queiroz. Ronaldo burst into tears, telling Van Nistelrooy he didn’t have a dad – his father had died months earlier.
That summer, he pressed the panic button after never knowingly undersold, released a Ronaldo dartboard so England supporters “could get revenge on football’s biggest winker”. The bullseye was CR7’s right peeper. Obviously.
