Ronaldo still showing the youngsters how it’s done

FOR the first time in ages, it does not look like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will even be in the running for the next edition of the Ballon d’Or. Reigning award winner Messi is enduring arguably the worst season of his career with Paris SaintGermain while Ronaldo’s season with Manchester United has had its ups but also not gone according to plan.

The only way that the duo can put themselves back in the running for the award is by inspiring their respective nations to World Cup success later this year but even that seems a tough ask.

It is also still uncertain whether Portugal will qualify for the World Cup. To do so, they will need to overcome reigning European champion Italy in their play-off bracket.

Meanwhile, even though he is now 37-years-old, Ronaldo is continuing to break records in his own way and showing that he can still deliver match-winning performances. After being the subject of criticism in recent weeks, Ronaldo responded by notching a hat-trick as United downed Tottenham 3-2 at the weekend.

Ronaldo’s goals took him up to 807 competitive goals, surpassing Czech legend Josef Bican. In the eyes of Fifa, he is now the greatest goalscorer in the history of the game. With the nature of the game constantly changing, this is a record that will almost certainly not be broken anytime soon, if ever. It is akin to cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 200 Test caps. Due to the nature of cricket changing and Test matches being played in less frequency than during Tendulkar’s heyday, the “little master” may just never have his record broken.

Due to the fact that Ronaldo has taken a lot of penalties in his 20-year long professional career, critics have dubbed him “Penaldo” but they could not say that following his goals against Spurs.

Ronaldo may not have the same level of consistency that he had 10 years ago but with his performance against Tottenham, he proved that he still has what it takes to win matches. Ronaldo is still able to do things which no other player in the world can do when he is on song.

Questions remain over whether the Portuguese star will remain with United next season but his next major challenge will be to ensure that he can take his country to the World Cup which is likely to be the last time he gets to play in the showpiece.