In difficulty since the start of the season with Manchester United and author of a controversial media release against his club, Cristiano Ronaldo has been experiencing difficulties since leaving Real Madrid in 2018.
When the English tabloid The Sun has unveiled its front page on Sunday November 13, it was not just the Manchester United club that shook but the world of football. “United betrayed me“, explains Cristiano Ronaldo. The one who was revealed at the Red Devils almost two decades ago, returned to his kingdom a year ago after nine seasons at Real Madrid and four at Juventus.
A comeback that definitely turned sour after the Portuguese’s release in the press, punctuating a disastrous start to the season for the 37-year-old striker, author of 3 goals and 2 assists in 16 games. Four years after leaving Real Madrid for a third straight Champions League, Cristiano Ronaldo’s career has experienced a slow decline. Return in five acts.
The C1 no longer responds
Crowned with four Champions League titles with Real Madrid, including three in a row, Cristiano Ronaldo left the club merengue to everyone’s surprise at the start of the summer of 2018. After breaking all goalscoring records for the White House and stacking trophies like the Ballons d’Or (4), the Portuguese file, for nearly 100 million euros, to strengthen the ranks of another institution, Juventus Turin. The old lady has not won the most prestigious of European competitions for almost two decades. At different times, Pavel Nedved, Alessandro Del Piero, Andrea Pirlo and Paul Pogba could not lift the Cup with big ears. Ronaldo is here to end this scarcity.
/2022/11/15/6373d9ad1271e_000-17h2et.jpg)
In the league, the Portuguese is on his way with 21 pawns and 8 assists. However, in the Champions League, the then 34-year-old striker could not save Juventus from their mistakes. In the round of 16, he saved his team against Atlético de Madrid by signing an impressive hat-trick in the second leg, but he was swept away like all of Turin in the next round against the collective of Ajax Amsterdam, led by Frenkie de Jong and Mathijs de Ligt (1-1, 1-2). Ronaldo scores twice but it’s not enough. The Portuguese sucks all the attention but he is no longer surrounded like at Real Madrid. That’s enough in the league, not in Europe.
Loneliness far from the top
The club decrees that Massimiliano Allegri is no longer suitable at the end of the season and it is Maurizio Sarri who arrives. The Italian manager replaces Ronaldo on one side after spending a season as a centre-forward and the Portuguese striker concedes 31 league goals. But if Juventus wins a 9th consecutive title in 2020, Sarri is dismissed after his elimination in C1 against Lyon, and replaced by Andrea Pirlo for the following year. Again, if the 35-year-old striker is statistically flawless, his performance on the pitch and the fact that he is expensive for the club lead to a loss of competitiveness for the Turin team, “CR7-dependent”. Despite 29 new pawns in the league, the Portuguese sees his team sink to 4th place and stop his hegemony on the Italian peninsula.
A questioned status
After Sarri, it’s Pirlo who doesn’t last long either. A year and then leaves, replaced by … the ghost Massimiliano Allegri, the last Turin coach to have made Juventus shine on the European level with in particular two finals in C1. But his arrival does not coincide with a return to the forefront of Cristiano Ronaldo. The transalpine technician puts the Portuguese on the bench from the first day of Serie A.
Between rumors of departure and condition still failing at the start of the season, Allegri thus questions the untouchable status of his 36-year-old player. The man who was supposed to be the centerpiece of the Turin team a few years earlier saw his adventure turn sour. A few weeks later, he takes to their heels to reconnect with his first love, Manchester United.
A short idyll in Manchester
After a few days of hesitation and rumors of a possible arrival at Manchester City, the Red Devils can breathe: the prodigal son is back home. Plagued by difficulties for almost a decade and the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United are struggling to return to the highest level. If the beginnings are promising with the Mancunian club, the results do not follow and Cristiano Ronaldo is suddenly his age. Less effective in the area, he lost what had made him a feared attacker.
The ax falls on February 8, 2022 against Burnley. The German coach Ralf Rangnick decides to do without the services of the Portuguese from the kick-off. And justifies himself before the meeting. “Today it will take a lot of sprinting, chasing the balls, a lot of fighting for the second balls. It fits the profile of Edinson Cavani better, which is why he starts today.” The beginning of a long series of falling out of love.
The towel burns at the Red Devils
The 2022-2023 season begins as the previous one ended for Cristiano Ronaldo. If the Portuguese is still untouchable in selection, in Manchester this is no longer the case. If Ralf Rangnick left the bench and gave way to Erik ten Hag, the Ajax coach who had eliminated Juventus a few years earlier is not in the lace and leaves his striker on the bench most of the time.
A situation that ends up exploding on Sunday November 13 with Cristiano Ronaldo’s interview with Piers Morgan for The Sun. Apart from attacks on the physique of Wayne Rooney, the 37-year-old player attacks the sulphate Rangnick: “If you’re not even a manager, how are you going to be the boss of Manchester United? I had never even heard of him.” he explains ironically. “I have no respect for him (Erik ten Hag) because he shows no respect to me. Did they try to fire me? Yes, not only the coach”, then connects CR7. An exit for the moment remained without concrete response from the management, apart from a factual press release: “The club will consider its response once all the facts have been established.” But the end of the story doesn’t seem very far away.