“Varane, go into the middle,” Ronaldo had
instructed the teenager in a training match.
“I’m not Varane, I’m Rapha,” the Frenchman
shot back. Ronaldo was soon tipping him to
become the best defender in the world.
In Mourinho’s final season, with tensions
flaring between the manager and his senior
stars, Ronaldo refused to celebrate two goals
against Granada. “I’m sad and they know
why inside the club,” was all he would say by
way of explanation.
Delays over a new contract strained his
relationship with Pérez, and Ronaldo told the
president he wanted to leave. “If you want
to go, bring me enough money to sign Messi,”
said Pérez. It didn’t go down too well.
An Old Trafford return seemed on the
cards. “Ferguson said, ‘I’m 99 per cent sure
we will have Cristiano’,” Patrice Evra later
claimed. “I spoke with Cristiano and he said
he was coming to join United.”
Ronaldo faced United in the last 16 of the
Champions League that term, again refusing
to celebrate – this time out of respect – after
sliding home the winner at Old Trafford. He’d
returned to a hero’s reception.
“That game wasn’t a good memory for
me, because I was unfairly sent off, but it
was a really special moment for the club,”
says Nani. “All the supporters welcomed
Ronaldo back with open arms. When he
entered the pitch, it was unbelievable to
hear everybody singing for him.”
Ultimately, it would prove to be
Ferguson’s final Champions League fixture –
although even after he announced his
retirement, the board informed successor
David Moyes that Ronaldo might still join
that summer. In the end, the 28 year old
decided to sign a new deal with Real Madrid.
From there, Ronaldo embarked upon the
most extraordinary period of his career.
He finally won his second Ballon d’Or at the
end of 2013, pipping Messi after hitting 69
goals for club and country in the calendar
year, including a memorable hat-trick in
a World Cup play-off showdown with Zlatan
Ibrahimović’s Sweden.
Another Ballon d’Or followed in 2014 after
he’d led Real Madrid to La Decima, having
scored twice in a 4-0 thrashing of Guardiola’s
Bayern Munich in the semi-finals. He posted
a career-best 61 goals in all competitions in
2014–15, including 48 in La Liga, but Barça
won the title, Champions League and Copa
del Rey as Pérez replaced boss Carlo Ancelotti
with Rafael Benítez. Ronaldo was less than
impressed – Benítez never seemed to gain
the Portuguese’s respect, particularly after
appearing reluctant to declare Ronaldo the
best player in the world in the media.
Mid-season replacement Zinedine Zidane
fared better and Ronaldo swiftly won Ol’ Big
Ears for a third time in 2016 – then a fourth,
as he scored twice in a 4-1 final triumph over
Juventus. The Ballon d’Or followed after both
victories – finally he’d achieved his long-term
aim to draw level with Messi on five apiece.
Incredibly, though, he’d been whistled by
a section of Real Madrid fans on the way to
that latest Champions League success, early
in a quarter-final against Bayern.
“I don’t know who doubts Cristiano, the
numbers don’t lie,” he third-personned after.
He responded by scoring a hat-trick. There’s
long been a sense that much of Ronaldo’s
motivation is built on anger; the need to find
a (real or imaginary) slight and emphatically
prove someone wrong.
Off the field, though, the forward was
being investigated by Las Vegas police over a
rape allegation dating back to 2009 – one he
firmly denied. The investigation eventually
came to an end without any charges being
brought, after the prosecutors said the
claims could not “be proven beyond
reasonable doubt”.
Separately, Ronaldo was one of a number
of footballers charged by Spanish authorities
with tax evasion, for which he was handed a
suspended jail sentence.
In 2018, he helped Real Madrid to a
historic third successive Champions League,
his fifth triumph in the competition. Only
Paco Gento has won it more.
“They should call it the CR7 Champions
League,” he smiled, knowing victory against
Liverpool was his final game for the club. His
relationship with Pérez had broken down.
“I felt inside the club, especially from the
president, that they no longer considered me
the same way,” he later explained. “I was no
longer indispensable, so that made me think
about leaving Madrid.”
It was a surprising end to a glorious era –
that summer, Ronaldo was allowed to join
Juventus for €100m. “I didn’t understand his
departure,” laments Morientes. “A guy who
scored so many goals was almost impossible
to replace. He had years of football left at anextraordinary level – I wouldn’t have swapped
that €100m for two or three more years of
Cristiano. They wouldn’t have won all those
Champions Leagues without him.
“The moment Cristiano arrived was when
the club really started to dream big.”SARRI SEEMS TO BE THE HARDEST WORD
Instead, it was the Old Lady’s turn to dream.
Ronaldo wowed them months earlier when
he scored a stunning overhead kick against
Juve in a Champions League quarter-final,
earning a standing ovation from home fans
at the Allianz Stadium.
The Serie A heavyweights hankered after
a first Champions League trophy since 1996
but had continually fallen short.
“Juventus signed him because they’d
twice reached the Champions League final in
the previous four years – the first time they
were killed by Messi, and the second by
Ronaldo,” explains Paolo Condo, a respected
journalist for Italian TV network Sky Sport.
“They felt if they signed one of those
monsters, they’d surely win it.”
The transfer wasn’t without controversy –
employees at a Fiat factory in Italy went on
strike after the Agnelli family, who own both
Juve and the car company, opted to spend
big on Ronaldo while Fiat were cutting costs.
The club were already on course for an eighth
successive Serie A crown when they hosted
Atlético Madrid in the last 16, trailing 2-0 from
the first leg. Ronaldo hit a hat-trick.
“He won that match all on his own,”
recalls Condo. “In that moment, a lot of us
thought signing him could be a good deal.Since it was
launched 30
years ago,
FIFA’s best
player award
has featured 10
England-based
footballers
on the podium –
but only one
has ever won it1st
CRISTIANO
RONALDO
(2008)2nd
DAVID
BECKHAM
(1999, 2001)THIERRY
HENRY
(2003, 2004)FRANK
LAMPARD
(2005)VIRGIL VAN
DIJK
(2019)3rd
GARY LINEKER
(1991)ALAN SHEARER
(1996)DENNIS
BERGKAMP
(1997)FERNANDO
TORRES
(2008)MO SALAH
(2018, 2021)GOInG
GLOBAL
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