Ronaldo - I can deal with your lies, but the microshorts are the final straw!
July 24, 2008
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As Ronaldo pulled away from the inadequate marking of Michael Essien to head United into the lead in the Champions League Final, he arguably reached the zenith of his United career and everything that has since followed has led him on an ever downward course to his eventual exit.
As he turned away to celebrate, United fans piped up with yet another chorus of “Viva Ronaldo!” and the Portuguese winger could feel satisfied that he had finally put paid to the accusation that he fails to influence the really big games.
Yet it all began to unravel within hours.
First, the incredible hubris - that’s cockiness - of his penalty against Cech in the shootout. The legally dubious, staggered run up he had indulged in all season had finally come up short in the first leg of the semi but he chose to chance it one more time.
Confidence is one thing, cockiness is another and for Ronaldo to take such an unnecessary risk with such a vital penalty, was a sign of his excessive self-belief. Cech of course saved - with his nose - but the damage was done. Only a penalty of far more comical infamy spared Ronaldo’s blushes in the end.
It could have all been so different.The loathsome John Terry would have swaggered through life convinced of his own invincibility and our Ronnie would have suffered a mortal blow to his bloated ego.
He got away with it - and United fans revelled in that escape and the hilarity of a moment that hopefully will see Terry waking in a cold sweat in the dead of night for at least a few decades to come.
The next stations in Ronaldo’s descent into infamy came on the very same pitch in Moscow. First, as Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra led the screaming charge towards van der Sar as he saved Anelka’s penalty, Ronaldo slumped melodramatically onto the pitch - apart from his United team-mates
His advocates state that Ronnie was merely overcome by the emotion of the moment. Cynics observe that his gesture was far more revealing - it was either an act of gratuitous attention-seeking or perhaps, more darkly, it was a moment of genuine mixed emotions: joy and shame. Joy for his achievement and shame for the months of prevarication and lies he was about to embark on.
The rumours that Real Madrid were planning to lure the Portuguese star to the Bernabeu had been circling for weeks. The reporters on the pitch and in the ground took full advantage of Ronaldo’s ‘captivity’ - cornering him on several occasions and managing once to ask him directly about whether he planned to stay with United.
“I stay.” Those were his words.
Pretty unequivocal we thought. All that Madrid business must just be paper-talk.
As United fans we could smile and sit back, bask in the afterglow of the magnificent Double and rest easy knowing that Ronnie - our hero - would be there next season in a team stronger and more focused than ever.
A litany of lies followed over the next eight weeks. He progressed within days of that initial declaration to a failure to re-iterate that intent and then - as his boldness grew - to brazen flirting with Madrid and a refusal to heed the warnings of his manager.
Appalled by his cheek but more by his lack of decency, most serious United fans very quickly fell out of love with him. As the manager and the club defiantly insisted he would be staying, many of us hoped he would be cleared off - and for the biggest fee possible.
Then came Ferguson’s ‘definitive’ declaration - he had visited Ronaldo in Portugal and could confirm he was staying.
What a curious bittersweet feeling for us.
We were happy the whole boring saga appeared to be at an end, but somehow irked that he hadn’t been sent packing. Happy that we would have one of the world’s great players for another season. Unhappy that our self-constructed Ronaldo myth had been shattered.
And then his latest gaffe.
As Ronaldo hobbles around LA on crutches looking like an inferior Ricky Martin impersonator, or a busboy from the Blue Oyster bar, old school Reds are shaking their head in disbelief and self-pity.
Is this permatanned clown in micro-shorts really our hero on the wing?
The spell really has been broken.
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7 Responses to “Ronaldo - I can deal with your lies, but the microshorts are the final straw!”
What Do YOU Think ? Leave A Comment:
those shorts! are you sure this guy likes women ???
nicely written.. probably didn’t really need to descend into the short shorts thing but it certainly got my attention.. nontheless great writing.. I’ll be back to read more..most United Blogs have NOTHING to say..
cheers
s
Good article. We’ve seen all this before though (the Ronaldo saga that is). It’s Beckham MK II. Talented footballer becomes superstar, falls in love with himself, encircles himself with ludicrous media circus, takes all support for granted, leaves the safety of the nest and becomes average footabller.
I genuinely believes Ronaldo has peaked. There’s just no way he will score 42 goals a season again. Not gonna happen. I will eat soggy sweat soaked socks if he does.
am a ugandan man u fan i like sir alex ferguson to bring barbatov to old traford he will change the strike line he can made as astriker to put man u on the top 20 clubs & sir alex dont leave ronaldo go to real his abest player remember u have to fight again to stay achampion league cup as adefending champion in eaurope
Aren’t they the same shorts Alan Partridge wore?
http://images.43things.com/profile/00/00/cd/52608pw400.jpg
Who likes short shots? Ron likes short shorts, whats up with that?
But yeah i’d sell him for that reason alone.
i’m a brit and utd fan living in canada for the last two weeks ronaldo has been hitting all the clubs in hollywood while his teammates are getting ready for the season.he travels everywere in a limo and has a crew with him all the time,the paps over here are calling him euro-greasy and all think he’s gay.
I know he’s a great player but as a person he’s become a a**hole the fame has gone to his head he’s embarrassing to the club he has to go.