The famed Portuguese footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo has been into some controversies as of late. Unfortunately for him, now there are calls for the manager of the Portuguese team to drop him from the team for the World Cup competition in Qatar.
This was due to his lacklustre display against Spain in the recent World Cup preliminaries. The Portuguese coach, Fernando Santos was accused of favouring Ronaldo and some fans are questioning whether Portugal would be better off without the latter.
It was argued that his lack of playing time in Manchester United may have been the cause of his lacklustre performance. Some are even saying that due to his reduced playing time, he should not be automatically considered to play for the Portuguese national team.
Many are stating that Ronaldo’s career is peaking and with Santos’ eight years as Portugal’s manager it seems that both are peaking at the same time. However, Santos does have a point, Ronaldo has started a majority of Portugal’s matches for the past 15 years.
Although he threw away the armband in a fit of rage following Tuesday night’s late winner by Alvaro Morata, he remains the team’s captain and the attacking formation leader. Additionally, it’s not the first time he’s done that, that is throwing a tantrum on the field.
Ronaldo’s Stats
On the other hand, Ronaldo has scored five goals in the group stage for the Euros. It was also argued that with Ronaldo’s statistics of participating in 191 international games and scoring 117 goals in them, he should have the right to select which games he wants to play in or not.
The Portuguese star footballer had the chance to leave his national squad at any time after the Euro 2016. That year, he helped Portugal win the competition and he was practically carrying his national team to victory on his own.
Regardless of the massive wins, he still shows up to the games and no doubt he plans on setting on more records. He still holds the record for the most goals scored in international football history and is closing in on the record for the most appearances for international games.
The recent backlash against Cristiano Ronaldo has brought his fans to Twitter to support their hero during this hiccup. A tweet showing how Ronaldo was at his best last year will definitely return soon, and the tweet mentioned “people have short memories.”
Some People have Short Memories.
Cristiano Ronaldo was playing like this Last Season 🐐 will be back. pic.twitter.com/1yWFgfC4DA
— Sheikh Hammad (@RonaldoW7_) September 28, 2022
The replies to the tweet are mostly supportive towards Ronaldo. A user stated that what is happening to Ronaldo now is definitely not due to his age, it could be something emotional or psychological. The user then added that his eyes look different, implying that he looks as though he is either disturbed or sad.
“Ronaldo did a lot for Manchester United last season,” stated by a netizen. An observer commented that they were not a fan of Ronaldo, but they would like to see him at his best again as he is a phenomenal player to watch.
The comparison of Ronaldo’s and Maguire’s hiccup shows the stark difference between the players. As Ronaldo is older and more established in the realm of football, he tends to get more sympathy from his long-time fans, while Maguire is still newer and has not developed a strong fan base yet.
The other difference between the two is that Ronaldo has beaten many world records while Maguire barely did. Furthermore, these two players are in the same team for the Premier League, which is Manchester United. Could it be the effect of Erik ten Hag management style that is making them to be troubled players this year?