Out of Europe, Cristiano Ronaldo nears the end of the road
Ayush Vashistha
Representing Middle Eastern football, Cristiano Ronaldo finally took to the pitch and scored a brace in the friendly against PSG on Thursday. The footballer with arguably the best right foot, best weak foot and the most popular celebration of our times eventually played a game after being signed by Al Nassr, a club competing in the Saudi Pro League.
Ronaldo’s signing caused a tumult. He was unveiled to 30,000-odd Al Nassr fans on January 3 at the Mrsool Park Stadium in Riyadh. After that, Al Nassr’s followers on Instagram skyrocketed from less than a million to a staggering 12.1 million, and counting. The club is paying Ronaldo a whopping $212 million per year in salary, the biggest pay cheque in the history of the sport, according to sports writer Fabrizio Romano.
Ronaldo’s arrival in Riyadh has raised hopes for the sport in the region. But is all this something Ronaldo fans should go gaga over? Is it a new challenge for Ronaldo, and will his legacy grow in Riyadh? Is it a big welcome or just a big farewell?
It’s unarguably not a challenge for a player who has produced remarkable performances for elite clubs in Europe to perform in a league that does not feature among the “Top 30 Football Leagues of the World”.
He has said “his job in Europe is done” and his new challenge is to “change the mentality of the world”. However, before coming to Riyadh, he probably nurtured hopes of staying on in Europe after being released by Manchester Untied in November following his criticism of the club. After the World Cup, in fact, he trained at a Real Madrid training facility in December, even as he looked for a new club.
His legacy is already etched, and regardless of what he does with Al Nassr, he will be remembered for what he did in Europe for 20-odd years. His international career has seen everything except a World Cup final. He led Portugal to the Euro Cup in 2016, and has scored the highest number of goals for the team. But he seems to have reached the end of the road with Portugal, with the likes of Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva and Joao Felix eyeing bigger responsibilities in the national side.
Silva admitted he was not surprised when Ronaldo was snubbed for the Round of 16 game against Switzerland in the World Cup, clearly suggesting Ronaldo’s value in the locker room had hit rock bottom.
The best football, except the Brazilian, has always had the colours white, red and blue on the players’ jerseys. So it would not be unsafe to say that, at nearly 38 years of age, it’s not a grand welcome in Riyadh — it’s the beginning of the end of CR7.
