CR 7’s transformation into a penalty box champion was the broadcast world over on Tuesday when the Portuguese passed 100 Champions League goals as Real Madrid defeated Bayern Munich in their quarter-final match with a streak of performance.
The days of Ronaldo seem gone and he must not be expected to be running down the left side and beat two men with unparalleled speed and skill, and shooting from a distance. No longer he wields power to shoot from the halfway line at the heart of opposing defences. When he is 32 one must not really expect that from him too.
Thus, the Real Madrid archman and leading match winner has increasingly been moved into a more central role by Los Blancos boss Zinedine Zidane.
The Icebucket Challenge
As his age has been taken into account in over the last 18 months, it is also the reason that keeps him closer to goal and, crucially, is allowing Ronaldo to retain his knack of scoring goals; the edge that has made him become the most ruthless goalscorer of the past 10 years.
Lionel Messi’s swift touch and creative moves have made him adopt a more unique role in the Barcelona supreme gameplay as he nears the 30th birthday, the Argentine at the heart of everything the Blaugrana do, his capability to dissect the opposition defenses with skills and mastery those tacky structures increasingly feeding Luis Suarez and Neymar.
CR 7 The Speed King
On the contrary, CR 7’s sharp instincts more clearly his ability to ‘kill’ as Jose Mourinho would put it – in the final third clearly states that he has been the focal point for the 11-time European Cup winners. The others work on getting the ball into the final third any how. Ronaldo keeps conserving energy, like a lion moments before roaring to the goalkeeper.
The Public’s Frenzy For CR 7
Just a week ago, after Ronaldo CR 7 had been unleashed after a long control according to Carlo Ancelotti, he came up with two goals at the Allianz Arena with two penalty box finishes, to hand Los Blancos a first leg lead.
He keeps thanking on social media his millions of followers that impatiently keep waiting for his updates.
At Santiago Bernabeu last Tuesday night he proved far better. It does not matter what gimmicks refereeing rights and wrongs played, the history will remember that Ronaldo struck three times flamboyantly, leaping the keepers into a 7th successive semi-final.
To overcome the failure of not scoring in six Champions League matches – a drought by his high standards keeps – Ronaldo scored five in just two, getting it right to do it when it mattered most and was the needful, against an opposition of staunch sober quality. It raised the bar of clubs career high scores.
Cirstiano Ronaldo’s Impressive Transformation
Last Tuesday, Zidane the coach was stuck by his key man on a night when he had struggled the most for the first 65 minutes and made poor choices, missed the blockhole and drove the least joy of Mats Hummels in particular.
Zidane, looked to rather shut the side, chose to introduce on Marco Asensio. Definitely you don’t dare to take Ronaldo off the field, which might aggravate the player, the Bernabeu crowd and Florentino Perez. However, Karim Benzema was called off, Ronaldo stood all alone to strike and Los Blancos, at home, went to 4-5-1.
Roanldo Never Gives Up That Easy
Unquestionably it was a very strategic move by Zidane, one of precautions. But as the few minutes went by, Ronaldo’s presence at the core of the strike was felt, a tremendous header past Manuel Neuer that leveled the score after he had stealthily found the space between Lahm and Jerome Boateng. Just a minute later. a Sergio Ramos own goal reset the game on edge again.
Although Ronaldo scored but Bayern was in charge and Zidane’s strategic move had handed the visitors the initiative to keep. Die Roten seemed the most likely winner.
Cristiano with Irina shayk A Love Story
Bayern’s superiority was instantly stripped off and with an extra man, Madrid, and specifically Ronaldo, made them pay to their best.
Thus being the four-time Ballon d’Or winner the athlete may not be what he once was, but it’s still more than just a match for everyone but the few in commanding position in the 18-yard box; the five-yard bursts across defenders are sharper than they appear, while their brains are even at their best, more refined and punctual to make differences when they matter.
Ronaldo is just five goals off from the 400 mark for Real Madrid, having hit more than 50 goals in SIX successive seasons and at a time when Gary Neville is questioning if he can play for another span of EIGHT years or not, as he presumes to run less and reserve his energies for the moments that can change the match altogether.
The Family Support is Always There for The King CR 7
“What’s the long game for him? I wonder if he’s going to go on and play into his 40s,’ Neville questioned on Revista de La Liga.
“I wonder if he’s building up for a long career as a centre forward, where he can still score two goals and live off moments. He’s living off moments more than his all-round performance now. Since he’s gone to Real Madrid he’s contributed enormously to everything they’ve done but he’s living more off moments rather than a contribution through a whole 90 minutes.
“He’ll be thinking Pele. Those numbers. Those scandalous numbers you think you can never achieve, the appearances, the goals, and that to me is where it’s going. I think he’ll go on for a long, long time. And in this game, he’s becoming a goal-scorer, he’s getting in the box more, he’s coming across the near post, his heading is incredible anyway.
The Skills
“I think we’ve seen the transformation of a player. He knows he can’t go up and down all the time now. He knows he can’t go past players all the time. He’ll become a goalscorer, a poacher and a good one.”
His transformation is pretty much impressive and admirable for every one, the ultimate match-winner now scouring for those moments when he must be accurate and spot on.
Lets hope for the further glories career ahead. Once the people thought he might not last even this long but now it appears he has stood the test of time and is here for long to entertain us with his dribbles and skills.
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