Cristiano Ronaldo News Archives

With the football season almost at its end, there is no doubt that the most outstanding player this year has been the Portuguese wing-wonder, Cristiano Ronaldo. With almost 40 goals in all competitions, few would argue that he is the player of the moment.Naturally, this has led some fans to wax lyrical about him.

Some say he is “the greatest player ever”; I have also heard others saying that he is better than Zidane, some have gone as far as to say he is superior to Pele and Maradona. I’m not going to debate on the validity of those statements. Everyone is entitled to their views and opinions, and this here is mine:

There is no doubt that Ronaldo has ability, but to call him “the greatest player ever” is pre-mature at best and absolutely absurd at worst. Surely I do not need to remind you that a player is judged by his career, not his performance in a single season. Pele, Maradona, Zidane, Maldini, Cantona, Baresi and Baggio, just to name a few, did not become great players because they had ONE great season. If that were the case, we would have to add players like Kevin Phillips and Javi Moreno to the list.

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Photo Caption: Grant thinks Kenyon was joking when Chelsea picked AG as manager - the ironic bit is, Kenyon might have been.

Both Avram Grant and Rafael Benitez have been locked in various off-pitch wrangles lately. Grant with the press and the fans and if the media is to be believed, players. Benitez with the owners, the board and Neil Warnock.

Both managers recently wrote in to Soccerlens to let off some steam and get some answers to their problems. Here’s how that particular exchange went:

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Here’s a list of the top scorers in this year’s Champions League (so far), plus their career stats for the Champions League:

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It’s that time of the season when the player of the season awards start being handed out. It’s also the time of the season when us fans argue about who has been the best player in each of the positions. It is unlikely that any two fans would select an identical ‘team of the year’ but for the purposes of debate and ‘friendly’ discussion I thought I’d have a go at putting my ideas on paper.

I have selected a squad of twenty-two from which I will select my final Premier League eleven. I just know that the players I select will be hugely proud to be recognised by me, a man who all the top players listen to. Mmm.

I’m going for a good old fashioned 4-4-2. Not because it is the only way to play but because it makes it easier to put down on paper!
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Like last season, Ronaldo is a strong favourite for winning the Professional Footballers’ Association players’ player of the year and the PFA young player of the year awards.

Here’s the full list of nominations:

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As a rule, I don’t believe anything that comes out of Real Madrid. But the following statement made by current Real Madrid manager Bernd Schuster about Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo is a bit interesting:

“He’s the star at Manchester United and until they win the Champions League and another league title or two then they aren’t going to let him go. So in the short term I don’t think it will be possible to sign him.

But in a couple of years, yes, I believe he could be wearing the white shirt at the Bernabeu.”

This is interesting because it’s the classic template for pissing the hell out of others.

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Cristiano Ronaldo. Straight up, straight in. No time to react, no time to even breathe. Perhaps not the best player, but definitely one of the best free kicks ever taken by CR.

There have been better goals than this, surely - I remember a Leighton Baines free kick against United that was a rocket into the top corner, beat van der Sar even though he tried to stop it.

If you’ve seen a better free kick, feel free to drop the link in the comments.

After I read Graham Fisher’s superb article about Cristiano Ronaldo, I was reminded of something from last year. I saw a goal by Ronaldo, along with his resulting display, against his childhood team, Sporting Lisbon. I wrote a blog about it on 19 September 2007, and believe that it would serve as an interesting complement to Graham’s piece.

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Comparisons can be a pain in the backside. My dad says that nobody was ever better than Tom Finney or Puskas, my older brother says George Best and Pele have no equals, I believe Maradona to be the best ever and my son says that Cristiano Ronaldo has more than the lot of them put together.

It has always been this way. We always think that the top players of ‘our generation’ are the best of all time. It is impossible to compare these great players because they are all from a different place and time. Of course George Best wouldn’t be as quick, as fit or strong enough to play in today’s Premiership and Ronaldo would have been even more of a phenomenon than he is now if you transported him back thirty or forty years.

You can only judge them by how good they were amongst their contemporaries. It is no good listening to anecdotal evidence because the fans of each player will only tell you why their particular favourite is the best of all time. The only way to judge this fairly is to look at the facts and figures. So let’s do it:

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Roma midfielder David Pizarro has hit out at Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo saying that his tricks are unnecessary and show a lack of respect for the opposition. He says Ronaldo is a show off and big headed. Whilst this comment has all the hallmarks of being a great big dish of sour grapes, I wonder if he has a point.

I know that if Ronaldo was performing needless step-overs in the middle of the field against the team I support, I would be upset, frustrated and probably yell at my team encouraging someone to ‘put him under’. That’s human nature and I think everyone could understand that.

This is the second time this season that this issue has come up in relation to Manchester United players. In the FA Cup tie with Arsenal which United won comfortably there was a passage of play where Nani had a little game of ‘keepy-ups’. This incensed the Arsenal players and two or three of them tried to exact immediate revenge. Indeed, Gallas was seen kicking Nani from behind off the ball a few minutes later.

So is what has become known as showboating a great piece of skill and entertainment or the demonstration of a lack of respect for the opposition and something that should be frowned upon?

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Kevin Thomson is fit for Rangers’ UEFA Cup tie against Sporting Lisbon. I am so relieved because I thought he might be seriously injured. He took an awful clattering from Celtic’s Georgios Samaras when he deliberately moved his leg to the side so that he could make minimal contact with the Celtic player before throwing himself to the ground.

In my non-expert opinion that incident was as clear a dive as you will ever see. I feel that the injury and the carrying off were simply to divert attention away from what he did.

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Before this game (and indeed, before any away game Manchester United have played in the last couple of seasons) the media trotted out figures to suggest that United were abysmal away in Europe - and few United fans would have argued against it after 4 away defeats last season (Celtic, Copenhagen, Roma and Milan) in the Champions League.

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In the most expensive transfer in the history of professional sports, Real Madrid have committed to paying 100m for Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo.

In a move that David Gill described as ‘the textbook definition of too-good-to-refuse’, Manchester United will net £100m upfront and take off around £6m / year from their bloated wage bill. If there was ever a profit to be made, the American owners have made it here.

This is all part of Manchester United’s plan to pay off their debt by 21 December 2012, and along with selling Ronaldo to Real Madrid they are also poised to sell several other players to leading European clubs.

Ronaldo will move to Real Madrid in July after the Euro 2008 championship in the summer, signing a mind-boggling deal that:

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Manchester United’s fearsome four have established their reputation not only for their brilliant football but also for their sexual exploits, the likes of which have never been revealed to the mass media before.

Sources close to Wayne Rooney have revealed the grand exploits of this foursome with their conquests ranging from the top of Hollywood to the slushpile of non-humanity (and beyond).

Their most famous escapade involves an amazing sex-filled romp on a booze-filled night with two famous sisters, a baby, a Marilyn Monroe wannabe and a goat. All this happened in late 2007, when the four Manchester United stars jetted off to a secret bonding session to Miami, where they met with their *friends* in a 8-person orgy.

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Cristiano Ronaldo will continue his quest to beat Denis Law’s Manchester United scoring record with a minimum of 8 games and a maximum of 12 (assuming that Manchester United reach the Champions League final) left to go after the Aston Villa game later today.

Ronaldo’s current stats make for fearsome reading - 34 goals so far in the season, including 25 goals in 25 league starts.

A goal a game could take him past 40 but it would take something extraordinarily special for him to get to even 40, let alone beat Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record of 44 goals or Denis Law’s record of 46 goals in a single season.

What do you think? Can Ronaldo rewrite Manchester United’s history and score 47 goals this season?

In June, 16 of Europe’s best national sides will descend upon Austria and Switzerland for the 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, or as most people call it, Euro 2008. While many of the continent’s top teams will be on display, some of Europe’s - and the world’s - best will be as well, so even if your team isn’t in it, you still have plenty reason to watch.

With that in mind and before the tournament begins, we (as in I) have conjured up the juggernaut of juggernauts, an All-Star Euro 2008 Starting XI.

There are several players you won’t see on this list, like Francesco Totti, Fernando Torres, and others, but I compiled this list with one major rule - no more than two players from one country, for the sake of diversity. Keeping that rule in mind, I did try to include the best players, both promising youngsters and experienced stalwarts alike. So, while all of the names below are recognizable, you may not agree with all of the selections. Then again, you’re not supposed to.
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I won’t mention anything about what happened to Arsenal’s Eduardo over the weekend, since it’s been talked about plenty already, but I send my get well wishes towards him, and hope he’s back scoring goals (but not against Manchester United) again as soon as possible.

It was a pretty important weekend of football in the Premier League, with the race for the title and for European places getting ever tighter as we edge towards the home stretch.

At the other end, the relegation battle is ongoing, and though it’s almost a given that Derby will be playing Championship football next term, several other sides are fighting to not join the Rams in the second level.

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All bets were off two weeks ago but since returning from Portugal’s friendly defeat to Italy Cristiano Ronaldo has looked a pale shadow of the world-beating uber-confident star that lit up the Premiership’s last six months. After a frustrating Manchester derby and an insipid display in Lyon (he missed the 4-0 Arsenal wrecking) – could randy Ron be overtaken in the sprint finish for the personal accolades this season ?

Contenders……..ready!

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Friday, 22 February, 2008.

A very good morning to you, dear Soccerlens readers. Got an email this morning from Hugo telling me that he was emailing a few organisations to see if he could find some slaves for us. Or something to that effect. I’m pleased, of course, but a bit concerned Hugo - are we going for this or this?

Anyway, on to the real stuff.

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In today’s edition of WagSnatch Roundup the Cole soap opera continues, read all about the Beckham effect, the most expensive text in the world, Jamelia wants a pre-nup thank you very much and slideshow of the football’s sexiest WAGs.

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Since Manchester United’s unforgettable, treble-clinching Champions League triumph over Bayern Munich in 1999, Sir Alex Ferguson has added several more memories - and trophies - in a tenure at the club that has now surpassed the two-decade mark.

But, the one thing that has eluded Fergie since that night in Barcelona is another trip to that promised land.

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In today’s WAGSnatch Roundup - times are changing for the England squad with a new WAG ban imposed, Ronaldo becomes the highest paid footballer in the Premier League, Chelsea’s Anelka is the latest footballer exposed for his cheating ways while Rooney’s little brother has an unusual pulling technique. And lets not forget Loaded’s poll and Prawn awards - who are England’s crappiest football fans?

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Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo is currently taking the Premier League and the football world by storm. The free kick with which he scored his 19th goal of the season on Wednesday against Portsmouth has been hailed by many as the best ever seen.

So is Ronaldo the best player ever to play in the Premier League?

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Manchester United returned to the Premiership summit midweek with a comfortable 2 – 0 victory over Harry Redknapp’s Pompey side.

Whilst many would argue that United could have gone on to score six or seven, such was their dominance and quality of play, I’m sure the Old Trafford faithful would have settled for two and the spectacle that was Ronaldo’s free kick.

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In this week’s WagSnatch Roundup footballer’s shenanigans uncovered, Jermain Defoe likes to wear a bra instead of a hat, Ronaldo promised a pay rise if he scores, Thierry Henry is a do-gooder and Keegan gets snubbed time and time again.

Recent weeks have not been good for footballers and their WAG companions. Recent and not so recent shenanigans of some of the top England footballers are biting them on the ass and it is turning into a rather bad episode of Footballers’ Wives.

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Premier League sides have been dropping like flies in the last couple of rounds of the FA Cup, and two more fell on Sunday.

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It’s a funny old game is football, full of omens, curses and clichés. No sooner had Tottenham got one monkey off their back by beating Arsenal for the first time in nine years, they turned their attention to ending a winless run at Old Trafford that stretches back more than twice as long. 1989 was the last time Spurs collected a win at Manchester Utd, their side that day featured the likes of Gary Lineker & Paul Gascoigne. Incredible eh? But United were in no mood to follow in Arsenal’s footsteps, even after falling behind to Robbie Keane’s first half strike. Cristiano Ronaldo took his frightening goal tally to 25 in 27 games this season, and Juande Ramos’ incredible cup run came to an end after three unforgettable years at Sevilla and, already at, Spurs.

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After 3.75 million votes were cast by 277,985 users, the uefa.com Team of the Year 2007 has been revealed last week.

After much thinking and a lot of videotape viewing (mostly Champions League matches probably), the UEFA writers have come up with 60 nominations, which were then submitted to the general public of the uefa.com website. Users were asked to select eleven players and one coach to make up the Finest team of 2007.

Now, unlike awards such as L’Équipe’s All-Star Best XI of 2007 (voted by journalists) this award was made by popular vote, so even if you don’t agree with the selections (and I’m sure none of you will 100% ) know that this team was chosen democratically. Nevertheless, feel free to give your 2 cents (and fire away your insults) in the comments section.
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In this week’s WagSnatch roundup Ronaldo’s mum begs his son to come and play for Real Madrid, Wayne Rooney is voted the ugliest footballer (but that would not stop women from dating him), Gunners lose to Spurs and get into a tussle at the pitch, Becks brings attention to Sierra Leone and Slaven Bilic put rumors to rest once and for all – he is not in it for the money.

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Here’s a thought - why don’t they start calling it the soccer circus? I know Keegan’s taken the name and brought it with him to Newcastle, but let’s make it official.

The Real Madrid transfer circus has a new twist - where yesterday Ronaldo’s mum was going on and on about how she loves Real Madrid (the term b*tch comes to mind but let’s defer in respect of the Manchester United number 7), today Predrag Mijatovic says that for Real Madrid to sign Cristiano Ronaldo and Cesc Fabregas is impossible, and that they’re not going to try.

What? Reverse psychology by Real Madrid? Gotta love it.

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