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Among the many astounding stories we witnessed in 2021, Cristiano Ronaldo's return to Manchester United was clearly the biggest. The attention and traction that his return to Old Trafford received on social media reminded us of the sensation he has become.
Even though he's 36 now, there's as much buzz around Cristiano Ronaldo due to his ability on the field as there is due to the heroics throughout his career. The Portuguese did not disappoint this year either and scored crucial goals in most outings.
Cristiano Ronaldo had a tough outing against various teams in 2021
In fact he scored a lot in Italy and continued in similar fashion on his return to England. In October, he scored against Atalanta in the Champions League, the 38th team Cristiano Ronaldo scored against in the competition. He also secured the Golden Boot award at Euro 2020 thanks to his five goals.
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Despite all these moments when the Portuguese ran the show and topped the headlines, there were moments that proved he was human after all. There were games where the striker did not manage to find the back of the net.
There were teams who managed to neutralize Cristiano Ronaldo in 2021 and he could not score against them. Here are 10 teams that Cristiano Ronaldo failed to score against in 2021:
#10 Fiorentina
Fiorentina against Juventus has been and continues to be a thrilling encounter. Unfortunately, the team from Florence has not performed well in domestic cup competitions and have not faced Juventus in those knockout games. Hence, fans eagerly await their meetings in Serie A, which rarely disappoints.
In 2021, Cristiano Ronaldo played his sixth game against Fiorentina in Serie A which was an away fixture on 25th April. In the past five meetings, the striker netted thrice against them and also provided one assist. On this occasion, however, Cristiano Ronaldo fell short of getting on the scoresheet.
Fiorentina went ahead with a penalty which was converted by Dusan Vlahovic, a striker who is on the wishlist of many top European clubs. Juventus had a poor showing on the day as they missed to trouble the opposition goalkeeper. They salvaged a point through Alvaro Morato who scored in the 46th minute.
Notably, Cristiano Ronaldo's three goals against Fiorentina in Serie A came from the penalty spot.
#9 Lazio
Lazio continue their battle in the closely contested Italian top-flight this season to make it to the top-six spot to get into one of the European competitions. They finished sixth in the 2020-21 campaign in Serie A and given the track record Cristiano Ronaldo had against them, they must consider themselves lucky.
The Portuguese played on home turf as Lazio visited Andrea Pirlo's side in March 2021. The match ended 3-1 in favor of Juventus, who made a comeback despite conceding an early goal. But this was one of those rare occasions that Cristiano Ronaldo did not start a game for Juventus as he came on from the bench in the 69th minute.
Alvaro Morata rose to the occasion and scored twice in the Portuguese's absence. But one would think in Cristiano Ronaldo's presence things could have gotten a lot worse for Lazio given his record against them. In his five previous Serie A meetings with the visitors, the Juventus star had scored five times and also registered an assist. However, he drew a blank on that particular day.
#8 Aston Villa
Cristiano Ronaldo did not disappoint on his return to the Premier League. Old Trafford was buzzing like never before and he graced the occasion with a brace against Newcastle United. The Portuguese striker continued his good form against West Ham and scored on his second appearance as well.
However, he failed to spread his charm for a third straight game as Manchester United lost by a narrow one-goal margin to visitors Aston Villa. This began a short, four-game barren spell for Cristiano Ronaldo in the Premier League, where he did not score or assist.
He came back strong after those games with a goal and an assist against Tottenham Hotspur. As far as the Villa game was concerned, it was settled by a late Kortney Hause goal in the 88th minute as the Red Devils lost 1-0. The home side, despite attempting 28 shots, did not have a single goal to show for it.
Manchester United were given a late penalty in the 93rd minute, but for some reason Cristiano Ronaldo did not take it. He watched as Bruno Fernandes skied his attempt way over the bar.
#7 AC Milan
When Cristiano Ronaldo faces various teams around Europe, he does not give them much room for error. AC Milan are one side in Serie A that have improved significantly over the last couple of years, having made significantly fewer errors. So when this high-spirited side met the Portuguese striker, they made sure he did not have any loose situations to feed off.
Unlike the other sides mentioned so far, Cristiano Ronaldo has faced AC Milan twice in this calendar year. Once in the month of January and then in May. Over the course of those 180 minutes, the Juventus star could not get on the scoresheet.
In the first face-off that happened in January, the Old Lady did not miss the prolific forward as they managed to get a comfortable 3-1 victory away from home. However, in the second game AC Milan came determined to humiliate Juventus on their home turf and succeeded as the scoreline read 3-0.
Many argued after the game that this was one of Cristiano Ronaldo's worst showings in the Bianconeri colors. Things could have gotten even worse if Franck Kessie had not missed his penalty. A night best forgotten from the Portuguese's point of view.
#6 Leicester City
Purely by looking at the scoresheet of some of Manchester United's games this season, one could make out that Cristiano Ronaldo must be a frustrated man. He has been caught on camera enough times, dejected by his team's performance. This was the striker's first taste of a major bitter defeat since his return to the English top-flight.
Leicester City welcomed Manchester United to the King Power stadium with pressure mounting on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. When the game ended there was even more. The Red Devils conceded four goals and could only score two of their own in reply.
Like all good things eventually come to an end, Man United's 29-game unbeaten run away from home also ended with this embarrassing result. Cristiano Ronaldo was far from the best player on the pitch. The 36-year old was a peripheral figure and could hardly make any impact.
#5 Belgium
Portugal started as the defending champions at Euro 2020 this year. Despite contesting in the 'group of death' with France and Germany, they progressed to the knockout stages. But the joy did not last long and Cristiano Ronaldo's ambition to lift another trophy for his nation remained unfulfilled.
All that, thanks to the team sitting at the summit of FIFA World Rankings, Belgium. Roberto Martinez and co. were considered favorites to win the competition but they were knocked out by eventual champions Italy in the quarter-finals. Their tie with Cristiano Ronaldo and co. was settled by a single goal. A stunner by Thorgan Hazard.
It was a night when Belgium sat deep and defended their lead with occasional counter attacks. It was a high-octane game that saw a few opportunities fall to various Portuguese players, but none could convert it. The best chance of the game fell to Diogo Jota who couldn't even manage to hit the target.
Raphael Guerreiro also hit the post but it seemed like the heavens were not interested in allowing Cristiano Ronaldo to proceed to the quarter finals.
#4 Manchester City
Cristiano Ronaldo had participated in 12 Manchester derbies before this one and when it ended he would have wished he wasn't a part of it. He had only tasted defeat in three of those 12 and little did he know that a fourth loss was on its way.
It is worth mentioning that in all three of those games, Cristiano Ronaldo did not score. The plot remains the same with this derby as well, he did not trouble the scorekeepers. As a matter of fact, no one from Man United bothered to do so and the game finished 2-0 in favor of Manchester City at Old Trafford.
If anything, the game made evident the big gap that existed between the two sides. There was one-way traffic in the first half as City went into the half-time break with a two-goal lead. Cristiano Ronaldo forced Ederson into a sharp save with his well struck volley but there was no other such moment of individual brilliance.
#3 FC Porto
Cristiano Ronaldo has scored in every single Champions League group stage match this season. He single-handedly saved Manchester United's campaign and carried them to the knockout rounds. One could argue that the heartbreak inflicted by FC Porto in the early part of 2021 motivated the Portuguese to return with a bang.
When the 36-year old joined Juventus in 2018, it was mainly to bring Champions League glory to Turin. The Italians were hopeful and dreamt that with the addition of the greatest goalscoring machine in their team, their task would be easier. However, Juventus were restricted to the quarter-finals in Cristiano Ronaldo's first season with the Serie A side.
In the following two successive campaigns, they crashed out in the last-16 stage of the Champions League. In 2021, FC Porto were the team to hand them the disappointment. A team from the star striker's own homeland.
It was a thrilling tie spread over two legs with eight goals in it but none were scored by Cristiano Ronaldo. Juventus lost the away leg 2-1. Despite winning 3-2 at home, it was the team from Portugal that progressed on away goals.
This was one of the rare occasions when Cristiano Ronaldo could not rise to the occasion to bail out his team.
#2 Liverpool
Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool have a habit of dismantling teams in the Premier League. This is how they derive their fun and kick from the game they play at such frantic pace. Cristiano Ronaldo might have thought that they would respect his name and fame but the Reds don't make an exception.
Liverpool inflicted the greatest sorrow on Ole Gunner Solskjaer's reign in his final days in charge with a 5-0 mauling of the Red Devils. It all unfolded right in front of the United supporters at Old Trafford. A stadium that had been abuzz since the Portuguese's arrival with the famous chant, "VIVA RONALDO, VIVA RONALDO" stood grim and in absolute silence.
Truth be told, Liverpool have always been a thorn in the striker's sight and his three goals against them in 15 games makes that evident. On a night when Cristiano Ronaldo almost disappeared from the pitch, Mohamed Salah took over the burden of entertainment and goals.
The Egyptian smashed a hat-trick at Old Trafford, becoming the first Premier League away player to do so. Paul Pogba was shown a red at the hour mark, but the ship had already sailed by then. Even Cristiano Ronaldo lost his head and was lucky not to be sent off for his challenge on Curtis Jones.
5-0? What else do you expect from the players?
#1 Serbia
The regret of not scoring a goal this calendar year against all those aforementioned teams is on one side and not scoring against Serbia on one. Portugal would have been well off had Cristiano Ronaldo contributed with goals against Serbia but the 36-year-old chose the wrong days to go missing.
Twice this year, Fernando Santos and co. have faced the Serbians in World Cup qualifiers, with Cristiano Ronaldo playing all 180 minutes. Unfortunately, he failed to score and couldn't even record an assist throughout the two ties.
The first match was played in March, an away fixture for Portugal which they negotiated a 2-2 draw. Serbia came from 2-0 behind to salvage a point. A reminder that these foes cannot be taken lightly.
It was a controversial game as well because in the dying moments Cristiano Ronaldo did score what looked like a match-winner. However, due to the absence of goal-line technology the goal could not be verified and the on-field referre did not give it.
A similar plot unfolded in the second leg, Portugal leading inside two minutes but then the Serbians pulled the comeback of the year. Cristiano Ronaldo came closest to scoring in this tie with a free-kick effort in the first-half but that was it.
In the 90th minute, Aleksandar Mitrovic rose to the tallest and guided a corner into the net. Portugal only needed a draw to qualify for the World Cup but they were condemned to the play-offs after defeat to Serbia.
