Paul Fennessy

YOU MIGHT be surprised to know that his second spell at Manchester United is not the first time Cristiano Ronaldo has been controversially dropped.

The player recently made headlines for refusing to come off the bench in the late stages of the Red Devils’ win over Tottenham, continuing a saga that has seen him express unhappiness both publicly and privately at the club in recent months.

Some of Ronaldo’s high-profile supporters in the media have increasingly found it difficult to defend the star’s behaviour.

However, one suggestion is that his recent actions are “out of character” and in contrast with the rest of his career where he has supposedly been a model of professionalism.

Nevertheless, even when you look back to what is widely regarded as Ronaldo’s footballing peak — the nine years he spent at Real Madrid — there are echoes of the problems he has been experiencing lately.

Diego Torres’ acclaimed book ‘The Special One: The Secret World of Jose Mourinho’ gives a detailed account of the recurring issues that existed during that era.

At Real Madrid, Ronaldo was indulged. He was not expected to run intensively and work hard off the ball as his teammates were. 

The favourable treatment he received drew antipathy from members of the Madrid squad, with some believing it was partially due to the close ties between Mourinho, Ronaldo and their mutual agent Jorge Mendes.

Yet at one point, Ronaldo provoked the ire of Mourinho.

After an extremely negative, defensive approach still results in a 2-0 Champions League semi-final loss to Barcelona, a frustrated Ronaldo speaks to the media after the team’s and particularly his own ineffectual performance.

He mainly sticks to Mourinho’s pre-ordained message essentially saying that the officials were to blame and implying their bias towards Barca, but at the end of the interview, he adds: “As an attacker, I don’t like to play that way, but I have to adapt to what the team asks from me.”

Mourinho accordingly perceives this comment as a slight on his tactics and undermining his authority. He subsequently does not pick Ronaldo for a match against Real Zaragoza.

As Mendes writes: “Mourinho knew that there were grudges festering between Ronaldo and the Spanish players over the alleged favouritism enjoyed by the forward. Some interpreted Mourinho’s dropping of Ronaldo as being the coach trying to curry favour with the Spanish sector.”

The matter then comes to a head during a team meeting.

“You, Cris! Come here so that I can tell you something,” Mourinho allegedly says. “I’m going to say it to your face: you complain that we play defensively. But do you know why we play this way? For you. Because, as you don’t want to defend or cover the wings, I have to have the team sitting deep. You get upset because I didn’t bring you on in Bilbao, because when you come on you do your own thing. To achieve your own personal goals. And perhaps I’m to blame for that for allowing you to do it. But you concentrate on your own game. Then you go to the media and, instead of doing what you have to do, you criticise us for being defensive. You know what you should have done? Criticise the referee. Think of me, think of the team.”

Ronaldo, of course, was not the only one to fall afoul of Mourinho during the Portuguese coach’s turbulent spell as Real Madrid manager, but the exchange still provides an insight into the more complicated view of Ronaldo that has existed behind the scenes in football for years.

There were similar criticisms at Juventus where, despite the team winning two Serie A titles during his stint there, highly regarded defender Leonardo Bonucci felt the player’s presence detracted from the team.

“It’s absolutely true,” he told reporters.

“In the recent past we had lost this characteristic from Juve, we were playing with a great champion like CR7 and we wanted to put him in a position to always do well, thinking he could solve all the matches.

“This year we are rediscovering that right humility that it serves to regain victory.”

Legendary goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon came to a similar conclusion: “I worked with Ronaldo for two years and we did well together, but I think Juventus lost that DNA of being a team.

“We reached the Champions League final in 2017 because we were a side full of experience, but above all, we were a single unit and there was this competition for places within the group that was very strong. We lost that with Ronaldo.”

And it’s amazing how similar the above examples are to his well-documented problems now at United.

The main criticism of Ronaldo currently is that he can’t press and doesn’t work hard off the ball. Yet these are tasks that even during his absolute physical peak, he was not renowned for engaging in.

As a teenager at Man United, he was frequently criticised for not tracking back and helping out the team.

Yet for the most part, Ronaldo was tolerated due to the incredible goalscoring gifts that have led to him justifiably being described as one of the best players the game has ever seen.

But in some respects, his second spell at Man United has not been hugely different to the rest of his career.

For all his talent, he has always been prone to petulant, egotistical behaviour. Another incident that springs to mind during his time in Madrid is his infamous reaction to Gareth Bale’s goal against Levante.  

While his great rival Lionel Messi often works well with teammates — for instance, the celebrated link-up with Luis Suarez and Neymar that guided Barcelona to Champions League glory in 2015 — Ronaldo has always been innately self-serving first and foremost.

That immense selfishness in the player — his well-documented obsession with personal accolades and recognition — is part of what has enabled him to become an all-time great footballer.

Yet this individualistic streak also comes at a cost. It is surely telling that he won twice as many Champions League trophies (4) than he did league titles (2) during his Real Madrid spell.

When it comes to big, one-off matches with the world watching, it is hard to think of many footballers who have risen to the occasion more consistently.

Nevertheless, the flaws in his game can often see his teams come a cropper. And this is increasingly the case in the modern game, not only because of Ronaldo’s diminishing power and pace but also because football is more system-based than ever.

Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool side at their best were a perfect example — their three most talented attackers, Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino during their peak were as efficient off the ball as they were on it.

Other players, meanwhile, have had to adapt to the changing demands placed on attackers — in an interview earlier this week, Sergio Aguero explained how it was not until he began working with Pep Guardiola during the latter stages of his career that he properly learned how to press.

By contrast, in many ways, Ronaldo is still the same type of player he was 10 years ago, however his individualistic style is increasingly one the top sides are unwilling and perhaps unable to accommodate.

The fact that he is 37, of course, doesn’t help matters, but Ronaldo’s decline is as much a sign of top-level football’s development in a different direction as his own fading greatness.

Upcoming fixtures (kick-off times 3pm unless stated otherwise)

Saturday

Leicester v Man City (12.30)
Bournemouth v Tottenham
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Arsenal v Nottingham Forest (14.00)
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