Cristiano Ronaldo: The Undisputed Emperor
How it
started
Cristiano
Ronaldo was born on 5 February 1985. He grew up like a regular scrawny young kid
from a small town in Portugal. He refused to accept his small-town fate and
worked for his passion. Even when he was a young player for Sporting Lisbon,
who would have thought that this scrawny young man would become someone who’d
challenge the god of football and be recognized as one of the greatest in history?
Rise of
the Phoenix
Ronaldo’s success
didn’t come by chance like many others. He was different because of all the
work he used to put in. He had this strong passion and determination that never
let him give up. After spending a tremendous season in his boyhood club Sporting
Lisbon, he got the call from one of the biggest clubs of that time, Manchester
United. Thus, the mythical story of an impossible career starts to gain
speed. The 18 years old boy started cutting out the fancy tricks and flicks to
find an ending to his mazy run, amazing the crowd of Old Trafford. In the next 6
years, he had won everything worth winning in Old Trafford including his first Ballon
d’Or.
Appetite
to overcome the odds
He set his
sights on a new challenge and joined Real Madrid in 2009 becoming the
world’s most expensive footballer. By that
time, Real Madrid was going through their darkest time and Cristiano Ronaldo
joined the sufferers. But it took him no longer to reconstruct the legacy of
Real Madrid and conquer Europe. He came to life when competition came to life,
he came to life whenever his team needed him. He was the most impactful scorer
for his team and in the world. He became the living example of the adage that goes: “A diamond is a chunk of
coal that did well under pressure”. His unbelievable hattrick comeback against
Wolfsburg, hattrick comeback against Athletico Madrid, and many more
unbelievable last-minute goals will forever be written in football history. Whenever
there needed a comeback, king Ronaldo was there to deliver it. He even
reinvented himself, switching inside to become a center forward of unparalleled
quality and became the club’s top scorer surpassing legends like Di Stefano,
Raul, and Ferenc Puskas. He wrote his way to become the best player for the
longest period of time, winning 5 Ballon d’Or of clean dominance, overtaking
closest rival Lionel Messi’s 4 Ballon d’Or lead. He conquered the
grandest stage of club football becoming the most scorer and assister in its history and
ended his historic chapter with Real Madrid in 2018, after winning his 5th
and the club’s 13th UCL. He set his vision to the next challenge and
elected to join Juventus in 2018. He cut through the noise with his incredible
standards and didn’t stop amazing the people in Italy. His hattrick come-back
again against Atletico Madrid will forever be remembered in Juventus’s history.
He helped them seal every worthy domestic title in Turin.
International Run
Just as the club levels, Cristiano Ronaldo was unstoppable in international football
too. He is the top scorer of all international football for reasons. His
dedication and the achievements he made for his national team Portugal are as
historic as his career. Even until the last decade, people never considered
Portugal as an "A team" on the run. Winning international trophies with a football
nation like Portugal was quite irrelevant. Until Ronaldo captained his nation’s
first-ever international triumph, The Euro 2016. But he wasn’t done yet. He
scored another rememberable hat-trick in the semi-final against Switzerland and
lead his country to win their 2nd international trophy, The UEFA Nation's League-2019. The people
in Portugal will never forget how he almost single-handedly dragged Portugal to
the semi-finals of Euro 2012. Whenever it’s a time of uncertainty,
Cristiano Ronaldo has always dealt with it rightfully, like he put his team
through to the world cup in a nerve-wracking death match against Sweden where
he scored another historic hat trick. He adds up another hat trick against Spain to
live their hopes for the next round of the World Cup.
Greatest
of all time?
Cristiano Ronaldo is the name of an inspiration of unparalleled energy, of decisive determination, of constant hard work, of extreme focus, and the hope of not giving up. By the time this blog gets to the reader, Lionel Messi will win the World Cup with Argentina and Ronaldo will stay in constant denial of being 37 years old and many of you will consider it the end of the "GOAT debate". But is it actually the end of the GOAT debate? Make no mistakes. Cristiano Ronaldo has put his country on the map. The highest international scorer, the highest official goal scorer of all time, the highest scorer and assister of the Champions League – If these are ordinary, extraordinary doesn’t exist. He was never a god-gifted talent like Lionel Messi. He never started his career as the main striker, he never started in a top team in Europe, neither he replaced players like Ronaldinho. He was no superhero like Lionel Messi. He was like Batman, a normal human being but with all the elements to challenge the superhero. Hammering after hammering, he molded himself. For almost over a decade, he shined brighter than everyone around him. He was the one to come within touching distance of an immortal. He single-handedly dragged a dead side of Portugal to the 2012 Euro semi, He started every game in the 2014 world cup despite carrying a threat of a possible career-ending injury, He reconstructed Real Madrid to its usual form, He put Juventus in a dominating league run, He conquered in England decade ago and came back to rule again. For ages, he carried the burden of an entire footballing nation and of many dreams. Watching a balanced Portugal team and watching how people started expecting Portugal to perform well in top competitions, is already a bigger achievement than anything. He has proved himself throughout his career that he has this appetite to overcome any odds. The man has done his part of unforgettable work wonderfully and has nothing left to prove to anyone as he can now put everything on a showcase and retire as the happiest and the proudest one with an untouched, unrivaled, and undiminished legacy. To deny his greatness and to say that the GOAT debate is over, is a mockery of your judgment.
Cristiano Ronaldo, the man, the
myth, will always be worshipped as one of the GREATEST OF ALL TIME and one of
the complete ones in the history of football. It's a mountain to climb, and he's at the peak of it. He is immortal. He is untouchable.
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