Ronaldo's Ugly Duckling

The grandeur that illuminates Cristiano Ronaldo’s tracks shines forth through the doors of the history of football. Love him or hate him, you cannot deny his prowess with the ball at his feet. The arrogant strut probably adds to his legion of hecklers, but ask him if he cares and he’ll probably respond with a hat-trick.

Women all over would rather have a night with the Portuguese star than a day at Link Road and a large chunk of the men compel society to raise eyebrows at their undying following. The Madrid or United shirt emblazoned with his name is easily the most common sight at any maidan in India and his name casually pops up in many an aspiring footballer’s Facebook name.

The rather unfortunate case with Cristiano Ronaldo is that the era he lives in is the same as Lionel Messi and more often than not, he finds himself losing his boots in his shadow. Another curious case of this era is the football fan’s choice to either be on ‘Team Ronaldo’ or ‘Team Messi’, threatening us with a real life Stephanie Meyer rendition which won’t end well for either them or us. The few who say they don’t care probably weep themselves to sleep for all the lies they weave.

Whether with Manchester United or Real Madrid, Ronaldo has shown his worth and has justified the humongous price tag that comes along with him. He’s scored more goals than his appearances for Real Madrid and is their go-to-man against any opponent in any part of the world. Why Messi is considered a legend and Ronaldo another phenomena is something not easily understood.

A common thread though, between Ronaldo and Messi, is their failure to perform on the international stage. Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal isn’t the strongest team in the world but are perennial dark horses in any tournament that is played. While he is the stronghold at Real Madrid, Ronaldo is the king, queen, bishop and pawn of Team Portugal. And this Euro seemed to prove that.

This could well have been Ronaldo’s swan song. And it was going according to plan until the one kick which made all the difference. One kick which, ironically, has never happened.

The story behind Portugal’s team strategy for the penalty shootout against Spain in the semi-final will never be known and its perception of absurdity or deviousness remains in the pejorative eyes of the omnipresent hater, but it won’t change the fact that Portugal were ousted out on the basis of a penalty shootout where their best player and a world-renowned penalty taker was absent.

Every footballer has his moment of infamy and this could well be it for Cristiano Ronaldo. Was it an actual plan set up by the team management or did Ronaldo think he would take the glorious last kick to dump the defending champions out? The truth will remain in the consciousness of the Portuguese team and their dreams will forever be marred by images of ‘what might have been’.

Cristiano Ronaldo had his chance at the cup of folklore where his name would swim alongside the Maradonas and Peles of the world, but this could be the blot that would bring him down. He may continue performing for his club but his date with eternal glory seems to be a while away.