World Soccer Presents - Rise of Ronaldo (2022)

PLAYEROFTHEYEAR

F

orty-fivethousandCristiano

Ronaldos turnedupforReal

Madrid’s ChampionsLeague

gameagainst Galatasarayat

theendofNovember. Abouttheonly

CristianoRonaldo thatdidn’twas there

one.Not on thepitch,anyway. Foronce,

thePortuguese attacker wasnottea

updefences,instead,hewas up in the

glass-frontedVIP box, recoveringfrom

a minorinjuryas down on thepitchhis

team-matesbeatthe Turkishside 4 -0.

NotthatitstoppedRonaldobeing

theprotagonist.In the77thminute,

theSantiagoBernabeulaunchedinto

a chantof“CristianoRonaldo,balon

deoro”.Atthetime,fansliftedmasks

totheirfaces.It wasa surrealsight,a

kindofBeingCristianoRonaldo. They

hadbeenhandingthemasksoutbefore

thegame: 45 ,000ofthem.Ronaldo

lifted a hand,gratefulfortheirsupport.

Itisunanimous.RealMadrid’s

fansmighthavetakentheirtime but

nowtherearenodoubts;theyhave

embracedhimwholeheartedly. Their

formerreticencejustlooks

bizarre. Someareevendaring

tothinkthe unthinkable:could

Ronaldobethebestplayer that

haseverplayedforRealMadrid?

Noplayerwilleverhavethe

impactontheclubthatAlfredo

DiStefano did- themanwithout

whommodern Madridsimply

doesnotmakesense- but

thequestionhovers.

Certainly, Ronaldo’s statistics

makeforfrighteningreading.Infact,

ithardlyseemsworth outliningthem

becausebythetimethismagazineis

onsalehistallieswill,inevitably,have

changed.This is themanwhoscored

hisfirst 200 RealMadridgoals in just

197 games,whogotto 15 0 quicker

thana goal a gameandwhohas just

keptonaccelerating.Herecently

hithis23rdhat-trickfortheclub.

SMASHINGRECORDS

Inthe past four leaguecampaigns,

Ronaldoscored26, 40 , 46 and 34

pe ec on

The pursuit of

Therelentlessquestforexcellence

hasfinallypaidofffortheReal

MadridandPortugalforward

Words:SidLowe