Stony-faced off the pitch but Ronaldo still feels at ease on it
HE SCORES THEN SCURRIES AWAY THROUGH THE STORM
HURRIED through the shrieking crowd by two security guards amid rain so fierce it bounced like a football, cameras capturing and flash bulbs illuminating his every step, life for Cristiano Ronaldo has become more chaotic than ever before.
He had earlier scored a goal in his first match since being accused of rape when the above scene played out as he scurried from the Stadio Friuli to the safety of Juventus’s team coach.
Ronaldo is used to the glare, of course; courts it, even. But this felt different. His lips were pursed and his expression pensive. There were no selfies, certainly no interviews and no smiles, either.
It was as if he was holding his breath and, metaphorically at least, that is what he will be doing until there is a resolution to the case which has made headlines around the world in recent days.
For while he was here in Udine in body, his mind was perhaps in the USA, where Las Vegas police have re-opened an investigation into rape claims brought by teacher Kathryn Mayorga, dating back to 2009 and a penthouse at the Palms Place Hotel. Ronaldo denies the allegations.
For 90 minutes, however, he had relegated those concerns, sweeping home a fine goal and leading Juventus to a 10th straight victory since his £99million move from Real Madrid, a club-record sequence from the start of a campaign. The front page of La Gazzetta a Sportiva read: ‘ Nobody stops him. Under accusation but CR7 scores. On the pitch he drags the team.’ The coverage continued inside. ‘Stronger than everyone’, they declared, while a news story detailed the anger of Mayorga’s legal team that tests from nine years ago have been lost.
On the very next page there was a large advert of Ronaldo modelling underwear, naked except for the boxer shorts which covered, but hardly disguised, his genitalia. The ad — which also featured in La Gazzetta dello Sport — did not seem entirely appropriate.
But then you think back to the atmosphere inside the stadium on Saturday evening. There were no banners bearing Ronaldo’s name, either in support or suspicion of the superstar. There was no goading from the Curva Nord housing the Udinese fans, nor any attempt to further Ronaldo’s denial from the away following. In the Premier League, the obscenities would’ve been unprintable.
As one Italian journalist explained: ‘Nothing has been proven, it is just rumour. This is about the football. The advert? It is normal, it is everywhere.’
It is more than rumour, of course, but the point stands. In a social-media age in the UK where the adage is more ‘guilty until proven innocent’, it was refreshing to learn, within the confines of the pitch, Ronaldo would be judged on his football alone.
Indeed, the home fans gasped and applauded when one Cruyff turn left a defender in knots like spaghetti around a fork. They, as much as the paparazzi and press, had come to see the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.
Not that you could sense the anticipation on the city’s sleepy streets earlier in the day. It felt more like a wet Tuesday in Billingham waiting for Hartlepool reserves to kick off than it did the hours preceding the arrival of the Serie A champions.
But that, they say, is the way in Udine. Inside the ground, while vocal and colourful in support of their own team, they were reserved and respectful of Ronaldo and Juventus.
It will not be the same in Naples or Rome. Those days are still to come, as is his return to Manchester United in the Champions League later this month. On this evidence, United would be foolish to expect a diminished Ronaldo to arrive at Old Trafford.
Even if the home fans had set out to heckle him, they would have been showing their appreciation come the end.
His first touch was a pass — with his shoulder, no less — while his goal was a first-time smash into the bottom corner from 14 yards. He should have had — and deserved — a hat- trick. His Gazzetta merit mark of seven seemed stingy, but the comment running alongside it was effusive.
‘He suppressed bad thoughts and kept them away from the pitch,’ it read. ‘It was a great demonstration of his mentality. The goal dazzled for the beauty of its precision. CR always.’
In the press room, fellow scorer Rodrigo Bentancur praised his team-mate and boss Max Allegri spoke of Ronaldo’s ‘ beautiful match’. For while the allegations off the pitch are unsavoury, what Ronaldo does on the pitch remains sacred. It is there during the coming months that he will feel most at ease.