Cristiano Ronaldo: Still a good player, not person

// March 1st, 2010 // Uncategorized

I watched Real Madrid hammer yet another team yesterday — they won 1-5 away to Tenerife. Despite fielding a team of players you’ve never hear of, Tenerife is actually  pretty good. Not that it matters when you play Madrid these days. They have turned themselves into a ridicuous offensive powerhouse. They not only put out a side full of great skill, but everyone is big and strong, too. It’s like Chelsea with more talent.  Real Madrid’s front three of Cristiano, Kaka, and Gonzalo Higuain, are just way to much for other teams to handle.

Higuain is their goal scorer and best player — he not only serves as the front of the attack, but he brings Kaka and Cristiano into scoring positions when he plays with his back to goal. Crissy is just a physical specimen. He appears to somehow have gotten stronger and faster (he apparently does 3,000 sit-ups per day — it’s all about core strength!), and he runs rings around defenders. Kaka is great but it’s just hard to shine next to the other two: Higuian seems to score every time he gets the ball, and Crissy makes everyone in the stadium hold their breath. Kaka is great, but next to those two, eh.

One more thing Crissy: he’s not getting any nicer. He alternatively struts and sulks around the field (when he’s not sprinting with the ball at speeds that don’t seem natural). Every ref is ruining his life, and not teammate gets him the ball as well as they should. And here’s one tender moment from last weekend’s game with Villareal. Here the context: Madrid are winning 5-2 at home against Villareal, the game is over, and Madrid win a penalty. Crissy gets the ball and starts walking to the spot. Xabi Alono walks over and asks to take it. Crissy doesn’t want to hand it over. In the end, he concedes, and Xabi takes it. If you read the subtitles that Spanish television have provided, the conversation gets a little tense, but not too bad. But if you actually look at their lips, you can see that it’s not a direct record of what they are saying. I did some of my own lip-reading, and then consulted some Spanish newspapers. And the TV has clearly tried to make Crissy look good. Here’s a real transcript (thanks to Chris S for the link) below the clip:

Xabi: Hey, hand it off to me.
Crissy: No, this one is mine.
Xabi: You’re a liar, you know I’m supposed to take this one. I haven’t scored yet.
Crissy: The next one, I promise.
Xabi: You know that I’m supposed to take this one, because you scored already today.
Crissy: No. I want to be pichichi (top-scorer).
Xabi: Yes, yes, give it to me. I’m supposed to take this one.
Crissy: I can’t believe this…. this is incredible.

Stay classy, Cristiano!

Posted by Lazar

One Response to “Cristiano Ronaldo: Still a good player, not person”

  1. Er Pupone says:
    March 4, 2010 at 1:55 pm

    Sneijder was clearly man of the match — distributing the ball, changing direction, conjuring shots out of nothing — but Elia was the real revelation (despite blowing an easy goal on that breakaway). Very very fast and skillful, and he seemed to have a good understanding with Robben about when to swap wings. Like Babel with a brain.

    I’d be happier if a healthy van Persie were up front instead of Kuyt. Or maybe a rejuvenated van Nistelrooy. Or maybe Huntelaar will finally reach his potential.

    (Surely, there must be some way to get Seedorf on board.)

    Good to see van Marwijk has solidified the defense and is sticking to the 4-2-3-1 formation that the players’ revolt forced on van Basten before the 2008 Euros. The de Jong-van Bommel partnership looks sound. That keeper looked real wobbly, though — time to pay a call to van de Sar?

    Of course, it was just a friendly and the opposition was crap….

    Reply

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