“He just needed to work a little bit more…”
Real Madrid needed Zinedine Zidane. Cristiano Ronaldo needed him.
There was a fantastic – and really worrying – piece in the Daily Mail by Rob Draper that highlighted, just after Rafa Bentitez’s departure, the madness surrounding the running of the biggest club in the world.
It detailed the autocratic nature with which Florentino Pérez rules in the Spanish capital, how the team was more or less picked for the manager and how removing any of the stars from the field of play was met with complete and utter disdain.
Taking off Bale, for example, or suggesting that Ronaldo was only “one of” the best players in the world – not the best – was almost a sackable offence.
Bringing in sensible and relatively cost-effective signings like Mateo Kovacic raised eyebrows. Playing him ahead of James Rodriguez to deploy an actual system raised blood pressure.
After all, in the words of Perez: “Do you know how many shirts James sells?”
So whatever about Zinedine Zidane’s lack of managerial experience, Real Madrid needed a man of his stature and standing to come in and take charge of that mad house.
Rafa Benitez couldn’t tell it to Florentino Pérez like it was because he was just thankful to have been given that job in the first place.
Rafa Benitez couldn’t have told Cristiano Ronaldo that he needed to work harder, there was no mutual respect there. That message could only have come from the best footballer of all time. It could only have come from someone Ronaldo would listen to.
Now, Ronnie is firing.
Seven goals in six games provides a daring suggestion that the Portuguese star has bought into the new regime and that he looks to be every inch back to his old self.
There was a time in the year just gone that Ronaldo was playing within himself. Sure, he was scoring goals and plenty of them but he wasn’t making those goals happen.
Playing through the centre in place of Karim Benzema, he was hanging around the box, he was sniffing handy strikes and he genuinely did seem more concerned about his tally than anything else.
Maybe it took a Zidane-like figure to come in and remind the 31-year-old that he became one of the best ever players in the first place by just playing his game. By going in search of the ball, by taking men on, by being a little audacious.
https://twitter.com/iFootballPlanet/status/693891476242206720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
And, whilst it might seem unlikely, Cristiano Ronaldo has quietly begun to make his way back to his best. Without a fuss. Head down. Just going about his world-class business. Cristiano Ronaldo.
But doing it in La Liga is one thing.
These days, if Ronaldo and Messi aren’t averaging a goal a game, they’re off the boil, they’re out of sorts. Finished. It’s the bare minimum expected of the two of them to rip through the Spanish league and if they do it in El Clasico, if they do it against Atletico, then they can be properly judged as a little bonus.
These days, they have to score spectacular goals.
https://twitter.com/BeanBagSports/status/698549828113055751
These days, they have to be leaving defenders on their arses for anyone to give a damn.
Cristiano Ronaldo's second goal against Athletic from the stands. #HalaMadrid (via @SimplyRonaIdo) https://t.co/tkhdwsBVwA
— TheCristianoFan 🇵🇹 (@TheCristianoFan) February 13, 2016
These days, it makes more sense for Messi to do what he did from the penalty spot at the weekend.
No-one would care an iota if Lionel had come away from a game with Celta Vigo with two goals. The irony of it is, he was praised as being selfless for setting up Suarez with his penalty when the reality of it all is that more people talked about Messi because of it.
Scoring a penalty against Celta Vigo wouldn’t have boosted his reputation like not scoring a penalty has.
La Liga isn’t the benchmark anymore. Doing something different from a penalty, laying on an assist from a penalty, that’s the sort of stuff these boys need to be at now for anyone to take notice.
But then, we have the UEFA Champions League.
Now, we have a platform for Cristiano Ronaldo to start his fightback. He’s been creating fireworks in Madrid all this calendar year and no-one seems too bothered. Barcelona’s class, Lionel Messi’s genius, Luis Suarez’ rise has warped any of Ronnie’s feats but here, he now has a stage befitting of his talents.
Here, Ronaldo – the big-game player, the big-time ego – has a chance to make people notice again.
He can score all the goals he likes against the Spanish cannon fodder but if he could do it on Wednesday night in Rome for example, he could restore his name to the lips of the world.
He could set Real Madrid on their march for another European title and he could go in search of his own third trophy in the competition. This is the level he needs to be doing it at now.
But if he does it again, he’ll not only prove that we should never have ignored him in the first place, or that Zinedine Zidane was the right man for the job, he’ll have showed the planet once more that he is one of the finest specimens it ever produced.
And, more importantly, he’ll start the Messi v Ronaldo argument again. Because that’s where he belongs. Nowhere else.
To celebrate teaming up with the UEFA Champions League, Walkers are are on hand to get you #GAMEREADY with prizes from official UEFA T-shirts and footballs, to tickets to the quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final in Milan. To be in with a chance of winning visit www.game-ready.com.
