Ronaldo puts taxing day to one side
IT was, you might say, a day of two halves for Cristiano Ronaldo.
After the early controversy of the verdict of his Spanish tax case, the Portuguese then proved properly taxing for the Spanish national team, as he gave what was probably his most complete ever tournament performance.
That was not just about the goals, or the records. In fact, if you wanted to really be pedantic, you could say this was a rare game when an element of every strike was gifted to him. The first was a penalty, albeit one he won. The second was a sensational David De Gea error, albeit from a relatively powerful but easy-tosave shot. The third, well… that was something else.
But for Ronaldo it was also something different. Normally a devotee of the knuckle-ball style he did so much to popularise, the erratic nature of that free-kick type is reflected in his international tournament record there: 44 previously taken, none scored. His 45th attempt was a more vintage effort, as he curled it with his in-step… and right into the top corner.
This was a great World Cup free-kick to go with those hit by Zico, David Beckham and Ronaldinho.
It was also a great World Cup performance to go with any of the competition’s really historic legends, something that is important to the Portuguese’s legacy, not least for the fact it was also a much more vintage Ronaldo performance.
It was why, for once, it really was about more than the goals.
What really stood out with Ronaldo beyond the scoring was the speed and power to his game. This wasn’t the player who has been forced to restrict himself to the box to conserve his energy,