OVER the years, Cristiano Ronaldo has become inseparable from his own public self image. This has been a good week for both of them. Not only did the 33-year-old’s credentials for all-time greatness increase when he doubled his World Cup finals tally with the bravura hat-trick which spoiled Spain’s Iberian party on Friday night, it happened at roughly the same time as an oft-derided statue of him at Madeira airport was being mysteriously replaced overnight. The bronze bust in his home island, which had been comically compared with a likeness of former Republic of Ireland striker Niall Quinn, was silently upgraded with one which had been secretly commissioned by his CR7 foundation.
The other new development which people woke up to yesterday when it came to the Cristiano Ronaldo story was global speculation – emerging first in Spanish newspapers – that he will be packing his bags at the end of this tournament whatever for a second sojourn in Manchester with United. While Paris St Germain were also widely credited with an interest – could he become tradebait for a Neymar deal? – there is more speculation than ever that this summer is when his nine-year love affair with Real Madrid will come to an end.
Few would certainly have been confusing him with Quinn from the performance for the ages which Ronaldo produced to defy a classy Spain side on Friday night. The first may have been a dubious penalty, the second relied on a rare mistake by David de Gea and the third was set piece too, but make no mistake about the efficiency and general excellence of that performance. It was Ronaldo’s 51st hat-trick in all, only the 51st in the history of the World Cup finals and no man has ever scored one at such an advanced age. It moved him one clear of age-old adversary Lionel Messi in the World Cup rankings, and drew him level with Ferenc Puskas as the second-highest scorer in the history of international football with 84 goals. Playing at this standard, he would continue to be an asset for any team in the world.
Throw in the Mourinho factor, the whopping tax bill he has just been hit with and those cryptic comments about how he would announce his future shortly after the Champions League final, and the link with Manchester United makes at least some kind of sense, however eye watering the bottom line might be for the Old Trafford side. They have hinted that Anthony Martial could be allowed to move on this summer and a move for either Ronaldo or his Real Madrid chum Bale has a logic to it, especially if this is the year when the Spaniards decide that the extensive re-tooling their squad requires alongside younger players like Isco and Marco Asensio cannot be put off any longer.
Next up for Ronaldo – and the rest of an under-estimated Portuguese supporting cast who were robust enough to claim the Euro 2016 title – are Morocco, the North African nation who haven’t had anything like such a good week. First their hopes of hosting the World Cup in 2026 were shot down in flames at the expense of the application from USA, Mexico and Canada, then they went down 1-0 to Iran in their group stage opener, a match they always suspected they would have to win in order to stop Spain and Portugal giving them a qualification mountain to climb. It didn’t sugar the pill either that the defeat was self-inflicted; the only goal was a late own goal by Aziz Bouhaddouz. Not only did the Moroccans monopolise 68% of possession, the most by any losing team in a World Cup match since Spain had 73% when losing 1-0 to Switzerland in June 2010, they didn’t face a single shot on their goal throughout the second half.
Last chance saloon then for the Moroccans, a nation you can see on a clear day from the Algarve. While Portugal, who could include Rangers’ Bruno Alves at the expense of Jose Fonte, haven’t lost to a non-European nation at the World Cup since 2002, at least it is a match-up which gives the Moroccans’ hope, having won their only previous World Cup meeting, at Mexico ’86. Captain Mehdi Benatia is the man tasked with shackling Ronaldo. He will have his hands full.
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