Mourinho and Ronaldo - Two individuals in a team sport

To start with, this is not an ode to two of the best personalities to grace the footballing world. I write this article to delve into the grey side of the two Portuguese protagonists.

Cristiano Ronaldo:

- An absolute phenomenon, nurtured under the guidance of Sir Alex Ferguson.- Suffers from a narcissistic streak which is detrimental to the team’s cause.

The biggest beneficiaries of his transfer to Real Madrid might be Madrid for most but United didn’t do too badly after that. They may have lost the X-factor but regained the team factor. And I am not counting the record transfer fee United pocketed.

• Nani has found his way at United – showboating lessons are a thing of the past as he has become a consistent match winner
• Valencia has given United a goal creating winger who is totally devoted to the team’s cause and he never shirks from the responsibility of playing in defense when needed.
• Sir Alex Ferguson’s team talks are now about how to ‘play around the team’ and not ‘play around Ronaldo’
• Rooney has re-captured his best form and is no longer relegated to left wing to accommodate Ronaldo’s goal scoring instincts

Jose Mourinho

- A manager par excellence who has learnt his ropes in the best footballing institutions.

- While his managerial record is close to 100% succes; his penchant for new challenges masks a self aggrandizement streak that has seen him leave the biggest of clubs at the best of times.

Winning the Champions League with Porto’s unheralded stars might still be the epitome of his managerial pedigree but his immediate departure to Chelsea in search for glory, masked a recurring theme of his career – Leave when you are at the top.

• The biggest accusation against Mourinho might be his short sightedness in search of immediate goals. He is normally on a project rather than on a job. The state of Chelsea and Inter are a case in point – burdened by Mourinho’s legacy of persisting (and not replacing) proven players who were nearing the end of their top flight careers. The absence of a long term plan has come back to haunt these big clubs badly
• Chelsea of today are literally the pensioners’ club while Inter are lost in a sea of stars well past their primes

It is hardly a surprise that the two ‘larger than life’ protagonists are now plying their trade/projects in arguably the biggest club in the world – Real Madrid. The era of Galacticos is back; Mourinho’s team has been funded lavishly in the bid to reclaim lost glory. And despite being closer to Barcelona, Mourinho’s camp is already giving sound bites of discontentment and perhaps a move abroad for fresh challenges!

As for Ronaldo, his every step on the football field seems like an exercise in displacing Messi from the top. Despite boasting of a goal scoring record that would put most accomplished goal scorers to shame, Ronaldo’s obsession with Messi’s stature warps his mind to the detriment of its pursuit of the greater goal.

If the past is anything to go by, Mourinho would be content to leave Spain with the La Liga and embellish his CV by one more ‘world beating’ achievement. And then Madrid would be left with superstars – whose rough edges have till now been papered over by Mourinho’s undoubted man management skills – fighting for their place in the sun while the sun calls it a day!