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Cristiano Ronaldo is undoubtedly one of the greatest players in the history of football. The Portuguese superstar has won over 25 major trophies with club and country and has claimed the prestigious Ballon d’Or on five occasions. Over the course of his near-20 year career, he’s scored over 700 goals.
Ronaldo’s massive success stems from a variety of factors - his incredible drive to win, his near-unparalleled physical and athletic ability, and an unbelievable work ethic. And at the age of 35 – when many players are beginning to slow down – he still appears to be at the top of his game.
Part of the reason for his longevity is the fact that over the years, he’s evolved his style of play in a number of different ways. This has ensured that he’s always been a key player for whichever side he’s representing.
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Here are four things that mark out Ronaldo’s evolution as a player.
1. Ronaldo has changed his position dramatically, from winger to forward
When Ronaldo emerged as a potential star at Manchester United during the 2003-04 season, he was widely recognised as a flashy – sometimes too flashy – winger.
Renowned for his array of tricks such as step-overs and drag-backs, Ronaldo’s early years were marked out by his dribbling and his ability to torment an opposing defence. He largely operated from the left side of the pitch in those days.
Incredibly, his first three seasons at Old Trafford only yielded a total of 27 goals. But by 2006-07 his game had improved dramatically, and he delivered a total of 23 goals before improving that to an unbelievable 42 in 2007-08.
The Portuguese was still deployed as a wide-man at this stage but had become more of a wide forward rather than a winger. And that was reflected in his goal record.
After his move to Real Madrid in the summer of 2009, Ronaldo was again deployed largely as a left-sided wide forward. And of course, he had massive success and scored a ludicrous amount of goals.
But by 2016-17 – as he headed into his 30s – he made the switch to being more of a central striker. Ronaldo improved his positioning inside the box rather than outside, and looked to convert chances rather than create them.
The results have been dramatic. While other goalscoring wingers simply faded away in their 30s, Ronaldo’s evolution has meant that his goal record has never really slowed down. His final season in Spain, for instance, saw him maintain an incredibly high standard.
He managed to score 44 goals in 44 games and he’s continued to score freely for Juventus since his 2018 move there.
By switching position, Ronaldo has essentially prolonged his career - where plenty of other similar players may not have been able to do so.
2. Ronaldo's dribbling ability has slowed down over his career
As a winger at Manchester United – and even as more of a wide forward in his early years at Real Madrid – Ronaldo’s dribbling ability was the part of his game that stood out more than any other facet. Sure, by 2006 he’d developed into a phenomenal goalscorer. But it was his step-overs and other tricks that really marked him out.
By the time of his move to the Santiago Bernabeu, the Portuguese’s physical ability meant that he had become an unbelievably skilled dribbler. Additionally, he was incredibly fast and powerful - which meant he was a nightmare for any defender who had to face him, particularly in a one-on-one situation.
As his career has progressed though, his dribbling ability has been largely curtailed. This can be attributed to a combination of various injuries, the effects of ageing and finally, his switch to more of a central role. And the statistics back this up.
In his first season at Real – 2009-10 – the Portuguese averaged a total of 6.2 dribbles per game, with an average of 3.1 being successful. By 2011-12 this total had dropped to 4.8 per game. Only 1.9 of these were successful, and from there a gradual decline is clearly recognizable.
Ronaldo's average total dribbles dropped to 1.9 per game at the lowest during the 2017-18 campaign with Real Madrid. It then increased back up to 2.7 per game in his debut season with Juventus.
But despite the variance in numbers, Ronaldo's success rate has always remained high, usually hovering somewhere just above 50%.
What does that tell us? Well, Ronaldo still has incredible dribbling ability. But the decline in the amount he dribbles is by choice – another sign of his evolution as a player.
3. Ronaldo's switch to a central role has allowed him to evolve into a target-man
The old-fashioned target man is hardly en vogue in the modern world of football. The role of the modern striker is much more nuanced than that of the centre-forward who was expected to hold the ball and score goals with his head from crosses.
But since moving into a more central role, Ronaldo has begun to develop into a brilliant target man in his own right.
Since his physical development really took off during the 2006-07 season, he’s become one of the most explosive athletes in the football world. That’s allowed him to develop a ridiculous vertical leap, and made him arguably the best header of the ball in the game.
The number of goals Ronaldo scored with his head peaked in the 2014-15 season. He scored 16 headers in all competitions with Real Madrid during that campaign. However, he’s continued to be a consistent scorer with his head since - Ronaldo delivered eight for Juventus in his debut season there.
One of those goals was his ridiculous header against Sampdoria. The goal saw him leap an incredible 71cm (28”) to meet the ball - a vertical leap that was comparable to that of an average NBA player! And his headed goals for Portugal at Euro 2016 against Hungary and Wales were almost as impressive.
One area in which he has dipped since evolving into a target man, though, is shots from long range.
The Portuguese was once renowned for his ability to fire incredible goals from distance, often using his patented ‘knuckleball’ technique. In league action for Real Madrid, Ronaldo’s games saw him average anywhere between 7.4 and 5.6 shots per game.
In 2011-12 for instance, he had a total of 264 shots on goal. It’s worth mentioning that of those 264, 132 came from outside the box, while 120 came inside the area.
Since then though, particularly since his switch to a central striker, the amount of shots Ronaldo takes has dropped noticeably. During 2018-19, he took a total of 177 – nearly 100 fewer than his 2011-12 total.
Fascinatingly though, he still took 95 inside the box; it was his total of shots from distance that had dropped.
This suggests that the Portuguese has been more than happy to embrace his new role as a “fox in the box”. Ronaldo has become a predator from much closer range rather than the threat from any possible area that he once was.
4. The number of assists Ronaldo provides has dropped
Ronaldo has quite often been labelled a “selfish” player in the media, and there are several YouTube videos that attempt to back this suggestion up. The Portuguese can supposedly be seen reacting sullenly or even angrily to goals from his teammates, particularly when a pass to him was open.
However, this is doing him a massive disservice.
During his six seasons at Manchester United, Ronaldo averaged 5.6 assists per campaign. And in his most fruitful season, 2007-08, he was part of a hugely effective front trio alongside Carlos Tevez and Wayne Rooney.
After his move to Real Madrid, the number of assists he produced only increased.
The Portuguese scored 46 league goals in 2011-12, but also registered an impressive 12 assists. And in 2014-15 – when he registered a career-high total of 48 league goals – he also registered 16 assists. This meant that he was involved in 64 goals - in just 35 games.
Since that season though, his number of assists has gradually dropped. 2015-16 saw him create 11 goals, but the following season saw him register only six assists, and the one after that only five. His total of eight assists in his debut season with Juventus was a slight improvement, but he still didn’t get close to his personal best.
So does this mean he’s become more of a selfish player in his later years? Well, no. He actually averaged as many key passes in 2017-18 (1.4 per game) as he did in 2015-16 (1.4), despite registering six fewer assists.
This simply suggests that due to his evolution from a wide forward to a central striker, his role in the team has changed - but has not lessened at all.
No longer is he expected to send crosses or through-balls towards a striker making a forward run. Nowadays Ronaldo is that striker, and his key passes are more likely to come from his hold-up ability, bringing teammates into the game in the process.
