Cristiano Ronaldo: From winker to the world's best

When you hear the name Cristiano Ronaldo you quickly dispel the memories O fenomeno the Brazilian and the image of the towering Real Madrid No7 comes to mind. Fast, powerful an amazing header of the ball, adept at using both feet and an unsurpassed drive to become the best. He is locked in battle with the diminutive argentine maestro Lionel Messi for the tag of the world’s best player and more recently the scar faced genius Franck Ribery

But however as the adage goes - “Victory favors preparation”.

Cristiano Ronaldos success, more than talent can be attributed to the drive determination and sacrifice he was willing to take to get to where he is today. This article seeks to analyze the growth of Cristiano Ronaldo and the different stages and styles he incorporated into his game over the course of his career.

Sporting CP

Ronaldo who joined Sporting CP after spells in Madeira in clubs such as Andorinha and CD Nacional. Best described as a lanky lad, extremely frail and a live wire on the ball..A far cry from his current physique Ronaldo was extremely frail and looked almost fragile. Cristiano was a traditional winger expected to hug the touchline and send in crosses for the striker to exploit. By no means however did he limit himself to only that. He was more than willing to indulge in his fair share of flamboyance as he repeatedly showboated and ran circles around defenders. Simply put he was a joy to watch. But however he served as a flare to deceive the opponent rather than the killing jab. That is for all his flicks tricks and strokes of brilliance he lacked that killer instinct to take a team’s destiny into his own hands. This is very much evident in his not so impressive stats from his break out year at sporting CP where he registered a mere 5 goals in 31 appearances. But he had talent and Sir Alex Fergurson was the first to reel him in, despite not being the first to sight him. Although interesting to note is the fact that despite his height he hardly proved an Aerial threat at this point of his career.

Manchester United

2003-04

Giving the number 7 once adorn by the likes of Beckham and Cantona was the biggest vote of confidence Fergurson could hand the youngster as he himself attested:

“After I joined, the manager asked me what number I’d like. I said 28. But Ferguson said ‘No, you’re going to have No. 7,’ and the famous shirt was an extra source of motivation. I was forced to live up to such an honour.”

By no means did Ronaldo become the epitome of perfection overnight. Although from his first appearance he showed Old Trafford what he was truly capable of. It was the 60th minute against Bolton united were riding a hard earned one goal lead and Fergurson decided to hand the 18 year old signed but 3 days ago his debut. Safe to say Alex Fergurson did not regret the decision .Cristiano Ronaldo proved to be an absolute nightmare for the Bolton defenders as he bamboozled them with an array of flicks and stopovers and unleashing several dangerous crosses which had the keeper on edge. He earned a penalty and the respect of the Old Trafford faithful. He however mostly stuck to the task of providing width on either side rather than drifting inside as he now often does.Ronaldos tendency to dive didnt however go well with his team mates as Gary Neville recalls

‘He dived a lot. He tried to buy fouls and he came in for a lot of criticism. The boys [at Manchester United] were hard on him for his diving and it was putting us under pressure.

‘I’d say the first 12 months there was a massive toughening up process. In training at the time you had Keane, Butt, Scholes, and every time he got the ball they kicked him and they kicked him – not just once, they kicked him every day, every week, all season.’

2004-05, 2005-06

While Ronaldo remained an elite dribbler he was not quite as effective as his manager or team mates wanted him to be. Ronaldo had a tendency to over complicate, attempt the impossible shot rather than spot a team mate 7 yards out. Go on a sparkling run instead of a simple give and go. He often tried to do too much and ended up doing very little. Thus earning the criticism of many a team mate such as Van Nisterloy and Gary Neville. Not to say he didn’t justify his being on the pitch with moments of brilliance and well taken free kicks. There was however a marked improvement in his ability to head the ball and in his positional play thus allowing his goal tally to enter double digits. It was also during this period that Ronaldo decided to take advantage of his ability to use either foot and began to cut in and attempt a long drive on goal which often yielded dividends.

2006-07

It was however after a world cup which ended in disappointment that Ronaldo perhaps finally decided to take his destiny into his own hands as Gary Neville recollects:

“I remember when he came back from the 2006 World Cup after all that controversy with the Wayne Rooney red card.

He walked into the dressing room and I thought: ‘Jeez, what has happened to him over the summer?’

When he had come to the club he was this thin, wiry boy. Now he was a light-heavyweight. He’d been on the weights over the summer and it was like watching someone grow up in a matter of weeks.”

Cristiano Ronaldo slowly but surely was eliminating weaknesses from his game. Gone was the desire to humiliate the opposition Ronaldo seemed more focused ,his talents more streamlined to suit the needs of the team. Gone was the lanky ball hog with no end product, from the ashes of disappointment in the world cup, the death of his father rose the catalyst to Uniteds renaissance. Gone was the unnecessary taunting of his opponents as Ronaldo began to favor a more direct approach, favoring the quick one twos to get into one on one situations he would decimate his marker and unleash an unstoppable shot which more often than not would end up at the back of the net:

“And what ensued for the next two years was astonishing.

I can’t believe anyone has ever seen anything as extraordinary in the Premier League. He sniffs blood, he will find the weakness in the back four. If he’s not getting the left-back in the first 15 minutes, he’ll switch to the right-back.

If he’s not getting the right-back, he’ll switch to the left center-back.

He’ll find someone in your back four who is weak and doesn’t like defending one on one and against pace and power.

His skill, strength and speed were incredible.”

2007-08, 2008-09

The final two years of Ronaldo’s stint with United were reached the zenith of his career. And the secret behind the phenomenal doubling of his goal tally? Sir Alex Fergurson and the tiny details or so Rene Meulesteen claims. In the onset of the season Ronaldo was serving a 3 match suspension during which Meulensteen had a heart to heart chat with the star. Wherein he chided Ronaldos obsession to score the perfect goal, his desire to be seen as the best and his tendency to dive.

In Meulensteens own words:

“Back in that early-season period at Carrington in 2007, Meulensteen and Ronaldo worked on different goal scoring scenarios every day but with one staple for each drill. “It was four repetitions, move on, four repetitions, move on,” Meulensteen explained. “That’s what I’ve learned from experience. People hold their concentration for 1 2 3 4 Bang.’’

Ronaldo was educated to create an image of the situation and the desired outcome: “Where am I [position]? Where’s the ball coming from? Where’s the goalkeeper? Where’s the finish?” Meulensteen gave colours to the four corners of the goal. “Cristiano had his back to the goal. He had to shout which colour, green whichever, he was aiming for, so subconsciously working his brain. He knew his target in advance.’’

Aside from his elite finishing Ronaldo also improved upon his off the ball ability and further refined his ability to head the ball as evidenced from his increased goals from headers from 2007-2009.He also began to utilize his skills more intelligently and was no more reluctant to release the ball if he saw a team mate in a better position.Certainly playing with players the likes of Paul Scholes yielded dividends as Ronaldo himself recalls an incident:

“When we were in training, I used to do a lot of tricks which hardly any other players at the club could do. Once I was showing my skills to Scholesy and when I finished he took a ball and pointed towards a tree which was about 50m away from where we were standing and said ‘I’ll hit that in one shot. He clipped the ball and hit the tree in one go. He asked me to do the same, I tried about 10 times but got nowhere near. Scholesy just smiled and left.”

Real Madrid

The final stage of his transformation, Ronaldo further bulked up in size and even worked on his sprinting as evidenced by him clocking almost inhumane speeds whilst on the pitch. No longer was he a winger expected to cross the ball. He often cut inside unleashing lethal Ronaldo rockets or simply drifted inside attempting to make that opportune run which his team mates could pick out. While Ronaldo previously dribbled his way into greatness, in Madrid his best moves came without the ball as he repeatedly caught the opposition unawares with his runs behind the back four and applying calm composed one touch finishes. He further improved the defensive aspect of his game under Mourinhos tutelage as he was more than willing to bust a lung running for is team when the situation demanded. He became a leader, a “commander” on the field of play bullying the opposition into submission and destroying keepers providing an inspiration to keep going.

Cristiano has come a long way from his rustic beginnings in Madeira. From overcoming a condition of a racing heart and abject poverty he has taken his destiny into his own hands and moulded himself to one of the world’s finest.However this definitely didnt come easy it took drive determination and a lot of hard work.To once again borrow Gary Nevilles recollections:

‘I would see him take a ball and run around the whole of the Carrington training complex, developing his skills, developing a trick to beat a defender… it’s probably a mile-and-a-half around the complex, and he did it every single day.’

His name is Cristiano Ronaldo and he shall go down in history.