Friday , March 29 2024

Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo returns to Lisbon where it all began as he starts to prove why he should be considered among the best of all time

Cristiano Ronaldo began 2016 inauspiciously, uncharacteristically failing to score in his opening two games against Valencia and Deportivo.

Since then he’s hit 46 goals in 46 matches, won a Champions League and European Championship, and is now on the verge of a fourth World Player of the Year trophy; joining the ranks of Alfredo Di Stefano, Pele, Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi as the very best to have ever played the game.

It’ll be a lot to take in for the 31-year-old as he revisits the place where it all started for him, Sporting Lisbon, on Tuesday night, representing the current European champions, Real Madrid.

His hat-trick against Atletico Madrid, the 39th treble of his career, at the weekend was memorable even by Ronaldo’s standards.

His legendary manager Zinedine Zidane broke his normal reserve afterwards to declare: ‘I’ve never had any doubts that Cristiano is the best. Tonight ends that debate, the Ballon d’Or will be for him.’

If true, Ronaldo would pass Zidane and the Brazilian Ronaldo’s record of being voted the world’s best on three separate occasions. Ronaldo has already claimed the title in 2008, 2013 and 2014, and another success would leave him only one behind Lionel Messi’s five.

On the face of it, how could it be anyone other than Ronaldo? Madrid’s record 11th Champions League triumph would never have happened without his hat-trick in the quarter-final against Wolfsburg.

The Germans led 2-0 from the first leg, Ronaldo wiped out the deficit single-handedly within the first 20 minutes and completed a famous 3-0 victory with a free-kick near the end.

In the final, Ronaldo was kept quiet by Atletico, but ensured the flashlights were on him at the end when he scored the decisive penalty in the shootout after a 1-1 draw.

By that stage, injury was restricting Ronaldo who had scored 10 goals in seven games earlier in the year including four against Celta Vigo. He also netted at the Nou Camp in a 2-1 Real Madrid victory against Barcelona.

CRISTIANO RONALDO’S INCREDIBLE CAREER

Games: 820

Goals: 565

Assists: 188

Honours: Premier League x 3, FA Cup x 1, League Cup x 2, La Liga x 1, Copa del Rey x 2, Champions League x 3, Ballon d’Or x 3, European Championship x 1, Club World Cup x 2

*accurate as of 22/11/16

As Euro 2016 began, Ronaldo’s body was threatening to let him down. He’d been troubled by hamstring problems and didn’t look himself as he missed numerous chances in Portugal’s opening group games against Iceland and Austria, before a brace against Hungary put his country into the knockout stages.

It was then that Ronaldo showed that his leadership skills have become as important as his footwork.

He inspired Joao Moutinho to take a penalty in the quarter-final shoot-out against Poland.

‘Hey! Come kick, come kick. You hit them well. If we lose f*** it! Be strong, come on, you hit them well.’

Moutinho scored and Captain Fantastic Ronaldo scored himself in the semi-final win against Wales. Then, despite going off with a knee injury in the final against France, Ronaldo stayed on the touchline urging his team on as they won the final.

In an emotional speech in the dressing-room afterwards, he called it the greatest moment of his career above any of his club triumphs or glittering number of individual awards.

He has started 2016-17 with a bang – 17 goals in 16 games for club and country. Real Madrid are top of La Liga.

If Ronaldo has any rivals for the 2016 world player of the year crown, it will be from any of Barcelona’s famous front three Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez.

Neymar also has an important international success to his name, leading Brazil to the Olympic Games gold medal last summer.

Messi and Ronaldo have dominated the last decade of world football like no other pairing. Between them, they have won every Ballon D’Or since 2007 when Kaka triumphed and they were second and third.

They are first and second in the Champions League scoring list; Ronaldo has 95, Messi 91 with Raul a now distant third with 71.

Messi is Barcelona’s record goalscorer, ditto Ronaldo with Real Madrid. When you consider the greats that have played for those clubs – Di Stefano, Ferenc Puskas, Johan Cruyff, Maradona, Romario, Ronaldo, Zidane and many more – it is an exceptional feat. They are first and second in the all-time La Liga scoring charts, with Messi leading the way.

We will probably never see their likes again. Ronaldo arrived at Sporting Lisbon as a scared 12-year-old who used to cry on the phone to his mum in Madeira every night. He left at 18 to find fame and fortune and Manchester United. On Tuesday night, he returns as the best player of 2016, and one of the greatest of all time.

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