It was over ten years ago, the 7th August 2003 to be exact, Manchester United played against an exciting teenage prodigy, 18-year old Cristiano Ronaldo, who used his skill to make the likes of Sebastian Veron, Silvestre, and Nicky Butt look like greyhounds haplessly chasing a rabbit in a game that would lose 3-1 to Sporting Lisbon.
It was the start of something big for not only Sporting, but for Manchester United and the rest of the World. It took Sir Alex Ferguson literally two weeks to sign Cristiano Ronaldo, who would go on to make 292 appearances for the club, scoring 118 goals in six exhilarating seasons. Ronaldo made his debut on the 12th, and it paved the way for him to develop into the player we all know and enjoy watching today. He was granted the honour of wearing the Number 7 shirt previously worn by the legends of Manchester United – Best, Coppell, Robson, Cantona, Beckham, and then Ronaldo.
And to say Ronaldo filled the huge void left by these players is an understatement. If the economical price-tag of £12.8 million leading to his sale to Real Madrid for £80million in June 2009 is not enough to defend the world’s new best player, the accolades previous to this should give you more of an idea.
His game-changing ability, versatile performances and goal ratio made him an indispensable member of the Manchester United squad, and it wasn’t long into his career here he became widely regarded as one of the most-feared attackers in the World.
He experienced the culture of success and witnessed the way in which his team of champions worked together as group of winners and maintained his thirst for physical and mental evolution to become football’s most recent success story. ‘Ronaldo was a natural talent, a rough diamond, but he crammed in thousands and thousands of hours of graft to turn himself into the perfect player’ stated Mike Clegg, power development coach for United between 2000 and 2011, who visibly saw the development of Ronaldo during his time at United.
His achievements even at this point were a model for the game’s future prospects. Not every talent becomes a Ronaldo, as the man himself has proved, ability is only one aspect of the game. The few Manchester United and Real Madrid team mates and coaching staff who observed and supported him would have argued Ronaldo deserved nothing less than the Ballon d’Or he received in Zurich this month.
The Fifa Ballon d’Or seems to have been the only award Ronaldo had not received and the one he had been most thirsty for. The proliferation of three-time winner Lionel Messi and the success Barcelona have enjoyed over the last few years has meant Ronaldo has had to endure a long wait. There had been a general consensus that focused on how hard it would be for Ronaldo to achieve this whilst Messi was still in his prime. Being regarded as the ‘second best player in the world’ was a very hard pill for him to swallow, but Ronaldo has focused on turning the negativity surrounding this hotly-contested achievement into a personal ambition… And then into reality.
Ronaldo moved to the League that housed the World’s best player and sought to mount a threat to Messi in his own backyard. Real Madrid paved the way for Ronaldo to build upon his achievements, and he seized the opportunity given to him to go from strength to strength and perfect every single aspect of his game.
Skill, attacking prowess, reaction, visionary passing, control, set-piece ability, crossing, and goals – words always produced in conversations about Ronaldo. There was a general consensus about him being the perfect athlete. But whilst everyone spoke about the Magic of Messi, Ronaldo worked on his mentality and teamwork that would see him become the perfect player.
From Manchester to Madrid, Ronaldo’s four years at the Bernabeu very quickly spoke volumes of his commitment to becoming the best. In 2013 alone, the Portugal captain scored 66 goals in 56 appearances and is already Madrid’s fifth-highest goal scorer of all-time with 166 goals in 153 appearances. Need one say more?
Next on his list you’d expect is Champion’s League glory. This would mean Ronaldo would have achieved all the same success as his rival, and it’s clear to the world that there is nothing stopping the world’s best player. So the Messi vs Ronaldo debate – on hold for now.
Who will win it next year? Will Messi reclaim what is his? Will Suarez achieve the impossible by winning the Fifa Ballon d’Or with a team haven’t won domestically? Can other world-class players such as Ribery, Ibrahimovic or Iniesta prove they are the best? Not if Ronaldo has anything to do with it.
We take our hats off to you Ronaldo.
ThisisFutbol.com are seeking new writers to join the team! If you’re passionate about football, drop us a line at “thisisfutbol.com@snack-media.com” to learn more.