Was Cristiano Ronaldo right to risk himself for Real Madrid?

Cristiano Ronaldo: With the glory comes the pain

Not many would have risked participating in the world’s most prestigious tournament, for the sake of continental glory. The FIFA World Cup is the trophy that every player aspires to have in their trophy cabinet. Cristiano Ronaldo was built to score goals and mesmerize the world with his athleticism, skills and ruthlessness. He was a winner at Manchester United and now a superhuman machine at Real Madrid.

Many players may take the club competitions lightly when the World Cup is around. In fact, Lionel Messi was unfairly criticized for saving his energy for the World Cup this summer as a result of his lacklustre performances. But Cristiano Ronaldo definitely isn’t one of them.When the going gets tough, the tough get going.That was exactly right in the case of the Madrid winger this season.He knew the biggest tounament in the world was coming this June in Rio.

He infact was the sole reason Portugal qualified to the World Cup. It was that night in Sweden where he completely outclassed Sweden with his deadly accurate finishing. He even won his personal battle that the media waged against Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

But all the hard work he does for his national team doesn’t always bear fruit. He does not play for a team that is a potentially World Cup winning team. Instead, he openly agreed they weren’t the favourites. The Portuguese national team have some very good players like Nani, Raul Meireles, William Carvalho and his Real Madrid pals Pepe and Fabio Coentrao. But having some good players doesn’t always get good results, let alone the World Cup. The team still lacks that fear factor or the ‘favorites’ tag that could take them all the way.

Make no mistake, Portugal could well be the dark horses of this summer. But still Cristiano Ronaldo knows more about the national team than anyone. He is definitely Paulo Bento’s go to man. But he was also Carlo Ancelotti’s. Years and years of having to bear the burden of delivering the ‘La Decima’ had finally got to him. With the arrival of Carlo Ancelotti and Gareth Bale, this year was the best chance to clinch the Decima.

So his thought process of risking himself for the latter stages of Real Madrid’s incredible “La Decima” winning season is more than credible. He played the semi finals and finals despite having consistent injury problems. He did this only to reclaim the most coveted title in Europe for his club. One couldn’t have said the same thing if he had rested for Madrid to save himself for the World Cup. The same people may well have criticised him for doing the same. Hell would have broken lose if Madrid hadn’t won the Champions League.

It is not because Real Madrid are highly dependent on Cristiano Ronaldo. It is because the press and the media rates the Portugal national football team not that highly. They give them less credit than they deserve. And everyone knows Cristiano Ronaldo would dearly want to pip Lionel Messi for another Ballon d’Or having had such a great season.

So he may well have wanted to claim as much silverware as possible to increase his chances of being named the best in the world yet again. He went for it and gave a world class performance in the semifinal return leg at Munich. He played the finals and won the Decima and became the all time top scorer in a single campaign for the Los Blancos.

So one can question his thought of risking himself but one cannot deny the fact that he achieved all that he could have. He risked himself for a trophy which was in his grasp rather than the one which would be exceedingly difficult for him to win. That’s not to say that he won’t give 100% for Portugal.