Cristiano Ronaldo treated ‘brutally’ as media resists the end of the GOAT nonsense

Editor F365 22 Dec 2023 11:26 AM

Cristiano Ronaldo in Saudi Arabia

‘The end of the Cristiano Ronaldo era?’ is the question being asked nearly a year after he left for a tin-pot league. Do you think?

Et tu, brutal?
GOAL is a football content brand built on global superstars so we can forgive them a little reluctance to move on, but the question mark on the end of this headline – screaming from their homepage – is really quite extraordinary.

The end of the Cristiano Ronaldo era?

He last won the Ballon d’Or in 2017. His last major title came in 2020. He’s been playing in a tin-pot league since January. He is 38. You can drop the sodding question mark, lads. It’s gone. Done. Over.

They then ask ‘Is the GOAT debate over for good? Cristiano Ronaldo is nowhere to be seen as eternal rival Lionel Messi picks up his seventh GOAL50 award’, which entirely warps the GOAT concept because, well, surely the Greatest Of All Time cannot be decided until all of the time has gone. So never.

What they mean is ‘do we have to stop trying to get Ronaldo and Messi into one headline?’ Yes. Yes, you do. Sorry.

The Portuguese didn’t feature in GOAL50 for the first time ever – so is the 38-year-old finished at the very highest level?

That’s a tricky one, alright. Is the player currently earning a metric f***-tonne of money while playing in Saudi Arabia ‘finished at the very highest level’?

It’s a debate that has divided many football fans for nearly two decades. But is the end of an era approaching? Has Ronaldo’s time at the top finally drawing to a close?

Is it ‘approaching’? It’s approached, waved, exchanged banal greetings and f***ed off.

But some are reluctant to let go…

So, is Ronaldo done? Will we never again see him challenging for the game’s major trophies and most prestigious prizes? Or could 2024 bear witness to a sensational Ronaldo revival?

What would a ‘sensational Ronaldo revival’ look like? Obviously he could win Euro 2024 and that would be pretty sensational but ‘major trophies and prestigious prizes’ suggests European and domestic titles. And in 2024 he will be 39 and still playing for Al-Nassr. And they’re not even even the best team in Saudi Arabia.

However, all is not lost. We may yet see Ronaldo return to GOAL50 in 2024.

And that’s the real goal. Fingers crossed for them and every other outlet built on Ronaldo’s cheekbones.

Firstly, the perception of the SPL has changed dramatically after a summer spending spree that made the whole world sit up and take notice. It was inevitable that its status and standard of play would increase dramatically after the arrival of so many proven performers from Europe.

Yes, we’re all talking about how the SPL is now absolutely brilliant; you can’t move for people chatting about it.

But the real hope is of course that Portugal win Euro 2024 and elevate Ronaldo back onto the main stage…

It’s not hard to envisage a revitalised Ronaldo running riot in Germany next summer – and forcing us all to once again ask ourselves whether we prefer truffles or caviar.

No, it’s really sodding hard to envisage. He will be 39. Messi will be 37. Let them have a sodding rest.

Over at The Sun, this is the most curious of headlines:

Cristiano Ronaldo brutally left off list of world’s 100 best footballers as Lionel Messi fails to make top five

‘Brutally’? He plays in Saudi Arabia, FFS.

Despite scoring 34 goals and providing another 12 assists in 41 appearances for Al-Nassr since joining the club on a free transfer in January, the Real Madrid legend is no longer viewed as one of the best in the world.

The key words there are ‘for Al-Nassr’. It’s not elite football. It’s not worthy of any recognition beyond the massive piles of cash he claims.

Over at SPORTBible, who breathlessly report the same story about the FourFourTwo list:

While Messi’s omission from the top five is noteworthy, Ronaldo’s absence altogether is even more startling.

Startling? You know what’s more startling? That The Guardian actually put Ronaldo 27th on their list, ahead of Alisson, Bruno Fernandes, Virgil van Dijk and obviously many, many more. We expected better from them.

But back to SPORTBible:

Despite his move to the Saudi Pro League, Ronaldo is still the league’s top scorer as he fights off competition from former Spurs flop Georges-Kevin N’Koudou and Aleksandr Mitrovic.

Surely it’s because of his move to the Saudi Pro League that he is their top scorer? It would have been hard to manage that particular accolade from the Manchester United bench.

Back to The Sun and their pretence that it’s real, elite football he’s playing: