BOOK REVIEW

by Guillem Balague (Sportsbookofthemonth.com price: £6.29, saving £3.70 on rrp) CRISTIANO Ronaldo’s timing on the pitch has always been impeccable. As we planned to review his latest biography in anticipation of him winning the Ballon D’Or award, it appears that his timing away from the pitch is pretty decent too after he pipped Lionel Messi to collect the accolade of the world’s best footballer for the fourth time.

The Portuguese superstar looked a safe bet to be crowned the year’s outstanding player after winning both the Champions League with Real Madrid and the Euro 2016 with his country; 38 goals in 42 matches helped too.

There have been hundreds of books written about Ronaldo and this latest offering by Guillem Balague, a “Spanish football expert”, has received mixed reviews. It’s easy to see why.

Granted, writing the biography of a footballer such as Ronaldo, a man constantly in the public eye, is a difficult task because so much of his back story is already common knowledge. Unfortunately, there’s very little here in the way of fresh insight ; moreover, there’s far too much about the author, who should take a back seat more frequently than he does. Balague’s tendency to muscle in on what is essentially a story of dedication and hard work tends to grate, though writing about Ronaldo completing another mindboggling number of bench presses or 50 consecutive sprints until the sweat pours off him is not exactly compelling literature. Yet this effort, surely, is perhaps the biggest contributory factor in Ronaldo staying at the very top for so long. Yes, he is a supremely talented footballer, but to maintain his status as the world’s best requires a remarkable strength of character as well as a steely commitment to working harder than any of his peers.

Ronaldo said this week that he aims to win more Ballon D’Or awards. Few would bet against him doing so, ostensibly because he is so focused on being the very best ; at 31, he could walk away and never have to work again, but his drive, energy and pride ensure he’ll be around for many more years yet. Hopefully, this will give someone the opportunity to delve deeper into his psyche, examine his motivation and write his definitive biography.

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