Six months is all it has taken for Cristiano Ronaldo to soil his reputation at club and international level.
A transfer request in July sparked a rapid downfall that recently culminated in poll where 70 percent of readers of readers voted to bench him for their Round of 16 fixture against Switzerland, an action that Fernando Santos took.
But the actions of Ronaldo in the aftermath of Portugal’s win over the Swiss has once again painted the 37-year-old in a negative light.
With recent reports claiming Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr are leading the race to sign him, it’s yet another mark of Ronaldo’s decline as he struggles to accept the cold, hard reality he is not and never will be the same player again.
And as Ronaldo’s stocks dive, his greatest opponent’s are as healthy as ever.
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A NIGHTMARE PRE-SEASON AND SUBSTITUTION SNUB SOURED THE MOOD
Despite smashing in 18 Premier League goals for Manchester United last season, the Red Devils could only muster up a 6th-place finish and were 13 points off a Champions League spot.
Such a lowly place in the table is not what Cristiano Ronaldo is accustomed to, especially compared to his first stint at Old Trafford.
The 22/23 season would also be Ronaldo’s first without Champions League football, having competed against Europe’s best every season since 2003/04.
The failure to qualify prompted Ronaldo to put in a transfer request in July this year, with the desire to play in the Champions League the driving factor behind his plea.
Although there were whispers of Chelsea, who had recently been taken over by a new owner in the form of Todd Boehly, holding interest in Ronaldo, it never firmed into anything concrete.
As the days in the transfer window ticked towards the end, it was apparent Ronaldo would have to tough it out in Manchester for at least another period before January.
Ronaldo’s replacement shines instantly | 00:42
The 37-year-old also began the Premier League severely undercooked having missed out on most of United’s pre-season due to a private matter.
He was benched for the Red Devils’ first game of the season against Brighton, but started the next match against Brentford which ended in an embarrassing 4-0 defeat.
More substitute appearances followed, but it came to a head on October 19 when United hosted Tottenham Hotspur.
As Erik ten Hag’s side closed out a 2-0 win over Spurs, the Dutch boss was set to throw Ronaldo on in the latter stages of the clash.
However, Ronaldo wagged his finger at his boss and instead of making his way onto the pitch, he strolled through down the tunnel and into the dressing room.
Ten Hag was left with no choice but to axe the superstar from his squad for the 1-1 draw against Chelsea in United’s next fixture.
Ronaldo would start in the subsequent fixtures against West Ham United and Aston Villa, even being handed the skipper’s armband for the latter clash.
Yet his trip to Villa Park would prove to the last time he ever wore the United shirt.
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THE BOMBSHELL INTERVIEW THAT DESTROYED RONALDO’S UNITED LEGACY
If Ronaldo’s future at United was on shaky ground after his dummy spit against Spurs, then it was all but decimated in the space of a bombshell interview with polarising Brit Piers Morgan.
In the interview, Ronaldo said he had no respect for ten Hag “because he doesn’t show respect for me” and neither did “another two or three guys around the club”, adding that he felt “betrayed”.
He also took aim at the club’s American owners, the Glazer family, saying “they don’t care about the club.”
“The owners of the club, the Glazers, they don’t care about the club,” Ronaldo said.
“I mean, professional sport, as you know, Manchester United is a marketing club (to them).
“They will get money from the marketing (but) the sport – they don’t really care in my opinion.”
Ronaldo even had some choice words for former teammate Wayne Rooney, who claimed at the time the 37-year-old could become an “unwelcome distraction” at the club.
“I don’t know why he criticises me so badly … probably because he finished his career and I’m still playing at a high level,” Ronaldo said.
“I’m not going to say that I’m looking better than him. Which is true …”
Even the most ardent supporters of Ronaldo struggled to defend him for the interview, with several believing it all but destroyed his legacy at United.
Barely a week after the first teasers of the interview were dripped out across social media, United announced it had, unsurprisingly, severed ties with Ronaldo by “mutual agreement with immediate effect.”
What made the timing of the announcement that much spicier was the fact Portugal had their first World Cup group fixture against Ghana just a few days later.
Talk about timing.
Football great appears to knee man | 00:52
THE BRUTAL PROOF THAT PROVED NATION NO LONGER SEES RONALDO AS THEIR HERO
Despite the great potential for Ronaldo’s club sideshow to encroach life with the national team — it appeared that way in a bizarre handshake with Bruno Fernandes — it had little impact.
Ronaldo scored Portugal’s first goal in Qatar with the opener against Qatar, albeit a penalty, which made him the only player in history to score at five World Cups.
But controversy was never far away with the superstar and it arrived in the form of Portugal’s first goal against Uruguay in their second Group H fixture.
Fernandes whipped in a cross and at first glance, it appeared Ronaldo got his forehead on to the ball to nod it home as he celebrated wildly.
However, closer inspection proved he had, in fact, not touched the ball whatsoever.
Fernandes was belatedly given the goal, but there was a reluctance from other parties to accept that was the case in some effort to appease Ronaldo.
Ronaldo got a third consecutive start for Portugal’s final group game against South Korea, although it was a notably different starting line-up than the one which took to the field against Uruguay.
The former United star struggled to make any sort of impact and was subbed off in the 65th minute.
It was at this moment that Ronaldo’s World Cup experience truly took a turn for the worse.
Ronaldo was left fuming when he was forced to come off the field and Portuguese media found images that suggested he used vulgar language directed towards Portugal manager Fernando Santos.
The boss said he “didn’t like” Ronaldo’s behaviour but insisted a line had been drawn under the incident.
Portugal went on to lose the game 2-1 thanks to a stoppage-time winner from South Korean star Heung-Min Son, but Santos’ side had already booked a spot in the Round of 16 prior to the game.
Yet the match gave more ammunition to Ronaldo’s detractors and in a poll conducted by Portuguese outlet A Bola, 70 percent of readers wanted the forward to be dropped from the starting team.
Those fans got their wish when Santos consigned Ronaldo to a spot on the bench for Portugal’s Round of 16 clash against Switzerland, with 21-year-old Benfica star Goncalo Ramos handed a starting berth.
Without Ronaldo on the park, Portugal smashed five past the Swiss with Ramos bagging a hat-trick.
Ronaldo eventually got some game time and had the ball in the back of the net at one stage but it was ruled out for off-side, an increasingly common occurrence in his game.
And when the full-time whistle sounded, Ronaldo didn’t stick around to celebrate in the win.
Instead, he clapped the fans from a distance before heading down the tunnel to vanish from public sight.
Santos insisted his call to drop Ronaldo was purely “strategic and nothing more”, but it doesn’t take a degree in rocket science to see just how fluid and dangerous Portugal were with Ramos leading the line.
Portugal’s lack of reliance on a football superstar pales in comparison to that of his longtime nemesis, Lionel Messi.
Throughout this World Cup, Argentina has turned to Messi countless times to bail them out of trouble, a life jacket in a raging storm.
Even at club level for European heavyweights Paris Saint-Germain, Messi remains an integral part of the team, even if he doesn’t offer a great deal when it comes to defensive duties.
Argentina needs Messi if it wants to win the World Cup and as of right now, it certainly seems as if Portugal doesn’t need Ronaldo if they want to do the same.
Now a free agent, Ronaldo is free to pick and choose his future as he pleases.
He desperately craves playing alongside Europe’s elite but, given his interview and exorbitant wage demands, his time at the top is running out, if it hasn’t already.
“Cristiano Ronaldo has made the point, over and over, that he isn’t done with top level-soccer,” Jonathan Clegg and Joshua Robinson wrote in The Wall Street Journal.
“But the reality emerging at this World Cup is that top-level soccer may be done with him.”
That is no more evident than the standout offer on his table for his next club.
Saudi Arabian outfit Al-Nassr has reportedly dangled a two-and-a-half year deal worth $AUD308 million-a-year in front of Ronaldo.
Sign the contract, and Ronaldo’s claims of still being able to compete at the highest level are vanquished, his legacy tarnished.
Most notably, it would be the exclamation mark on a decline few would have envisaged happening at the rate it has.
As The Independent’s Richard Jolly notes, everyone is quite keen to move on, except for the man in the spotlight.
“He (Ronaldo) has looked blinded to the evidence of his own decline, ageing gracelessly in a hubristic 2022 when opinions elsewhere changed,” Jolly wrote.
“The notion a legend weakened the team was first anathema and has now become accepted, just as the vast majority of United fans backed Erik ten Hag.
“His managers have moved on and Ramos has cemented Portugal’s case for change.”
There’s every chance Ronaldo has another chapter to write a club and international level.
But what that entails is something he may no longer have as great a say in as he perhaps envisioned.
