‘I don’t know who doubted me,’ said Cristiano Ronaldo. ‘The people who love Cristiano never had any doubts.’
That is what the Portuguese hitman said after riddling Bayern Munich with goals like machine gun bullets over two Champions League quarter-final ties. Five times he rattled the ball past Manuel Neuer, one of the world’s best goalkeepers.
Few could argue with that, but argue they did. Most of the talk after the game revolved around refereeing controversies which helped Madrid and hindered Bayern, while others pointed out that for large periods over the two legs Ronaldo was floundering.
But on Tuesday night at the Santiago Bernabeu, there really was nothing left to doubt. Another huge stage, another world-class goalkeeper, in Jan Oblak, another Ronaldo hat-trick. The 42nd of his eight-year Madrid career. 103 goals in the Champions League; Atletico have scored 100 in total.
At 32 years old Ronaldo is once again on an upward trajectory.
He wasn’t, for a while. Physically he is declining and for a while it frustrated him. Not in terms of strength and stature, but both his speed and stamina has diminished over the mid-distance; no longer can he surge up the pitch leaving a trail of bamboozled defenders in his wake. That hasn’t been the case for a couple of years.
His role at Real Madrid until Zinedine Zidane started tinkering with it, was a left winger. In theory, anyway. He would play on the left, where he used to function as a hybrid of a winger and a forward, with Karim Benzema in the middle and Gareth Bale on the right.
However over time he drifted increasingly into the centre, despite still being picked as a winger. That held Madrid back. The sensational Marcelo covered twice as much ground in Ronaldo’s stead but it was often not quite enough, with the team vulnerable down both flanks — Bale didn’t put a shift in defensively on the right either.
Now Zidane often lines up 4-4-2 instead of 4-3-3, with a diamond midfield and two strikers, of which Ronaldo is one. Playing as an out-and-out centre-forward, he is free from the defensive responsibility he took a laissez-faire attitude towards anyway.
He can play in the box, nourishing his goalscoring instincts, without the worry of needing to beat his man before opening up an angle for a shot on goal.
Ronaldo still has a burst of pace that can allow him to beat one or two players one-on-one, but when he is such a lethal finisher it makes little sense to ask him to do anything more than stick the ball in the back of the net.
‘I’m very happy to have struck a hat-trick and made it 400 goals for Real Madrid,’ said Ronaldo after the game. But officially he has 399 goals, the discrepancy stemming from a game against Real Sociedad in 2010.
His effort deflected off his team-mate Pepe and is considered the defender’s goal. But Ronaldo, bloody-minded as ever, is refusing to let it go.
He has eight goals in his last three Champions League matches, 10 in total, 20 in 26 La Liga matches. It used to be that Ronaldo demanded to play every game he could, but he has matured. He understands that if he doesn’t play against Sporting Gijon away, he can dominate against Atletico at home.
‘Sometimes he needs to rest and he knows that because he’s intelligent,’ said Zidane. Nothing can stop time inching forward but Ronaldo has learned how to slow it down.
No longer does he insist on playing against La Liga’s minnows so he can fill his boots and beat Lionel Messi at the top of Spain’s Pichichi rankings.
It seemed bizarre back in November when Ronaldo claimed he wanted to stay at Madrid and keep playing until he was 41 years old. But the more he adapts to his new role, the more realistic it becomes.
Filippo Inzaghi retired at 38, struggling to get back to his best after a knee ligament injury. Barring the same misfortune, Ronaldo can surpass that.
The ultimate professional, he does everything he can off the field to keep himself in pristine condition.
BT Sport’s Rio Ferdinand said: ‘I spoke to him during the week [asking] “What is it that makes you, and got you where you are?”
‘Hard work and determination is all he said, nothing else. And it’s true, the basics have got him where he is and the talent separates him.’
His doctor Jose Carlos Noronha claimed in August: ‘He has a unique physique and is like those cars that can travel millions of kilometres without any fault.’
With the destruction of Bayern and Atletico, Ronaldo will already be dreaming of winning his fifth Ballon d’Or come the end of the year.
He still has to ensure Madrid progress to the final on June 3 in Cardiff, but victory there combined with the Spanish title would guarantee him the award
‘CR7’ the brand has become synonymous with Madrid’s successes. His at-times rocky relationship with club president Florentino Perez has been patched up by the £365,000-a-week deal he penned in November.
The Madrid chief showed faith by giving him a new deal when he was still struggling to settle into his new role and now Ronaldo is paying him back in spades.
But even after annihilating Atletico he pleaded with Madrid’s fans not to whistle him as they have done on occasion recently, because for some people seeing him transition from No 7 to No 9 is taking some getting used to.
Ronaldo continues making the biggest impact on the biggest occasions and in his new role, with a smarter attitude towards picking and choosing his games, he will continue making the difference for Madrid for years to come.
SOURCE: DAILYMAIL
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