Cristiano Ronaldo further rips apart football bosses and speaks of how even a club like Manchester United treats players shabbily
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Cristiano Ronaldo - Image Courtesy BBC
A football striker and solo sorties on the field are not alien to each other. Just that the man in question these days — Cristiano Ronaldo — has run away with the ball, literally. Part 2 of his freewheeling chat with Piers Morgan Uncensored last night in Britain was truly uncensored.
This is the CR7 we have seen on the field, striking goals with precision. In the no-holds-barred interview, the Portugal captain came down on Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag with the force of a ton of bricks in free-fall. He made it clear respect is a two-way process, in sports as in life.
Ten Hag may have behaved a bit like a schoolmaster, or even a bit like the zoo keeper, trying to tame the lion in the den. Ronaldo has no bones about who he is, the numero uno, who takes no crap. Even if it be from the top team management at Old Trafford.
If the first part of the interview resembled shades of a PR exercise, the second episode was boom! No holds barred, to the point, ripping his shirt, metaphorically, and revealing his blood vessels. For, Ronaldo’s blood had been boiling through the season at Manchester United. To borrow his own words, he said was the “black sheep,” an apt usage from someone who was never made to feel like part of the squad. When Ronaldo switches from hurt to pain during the conversation, it’s loaded with emotion. Minus the tears on television.
There is a mild choke in his voice, though well disguised when he talks of how he was treated badly. The give-respect-take-respect reveals how Ronaldo and his boss on the field never got along. Forget chemistry, there was a massive trust deficit leading to a state of breakdown. Yes, at one point, Ronaldo admits he was wrong to walk away when he was slapped with a three-match ban. He even had to explain to his young son how the Dad football hero had been punished. That part of the conversation conveys hurt and being humbled. After all, the legend called Ronaldo never expected he would get kicked around so badly.
In his love-hate relationship with the British media, Ronaldo is frank and forthright. He minces no words when he talks of how the media singled him out for the harshest criticism and spared the rest of the jokers. The media loves to portray heroes as villains, for, it makes a great copy and equally great headlines. The Brit media can be very unforgiving. When it comes to sucking up, they will do it with glee. And when it comes to being critical to the point of using acid, not ink, they are champions in it.
To cut a long story short, these two episodes of the Ronaldo interview can make a good movie in itself. Forget his stint at Manchester United, even otherwise, Ronaldo talks of how football is a business and players are like commodities. It’s clear from Ronaldo’s words, players may be enjoying an exalted status among fans, but the club owners treat players like crap. It brings into focus the darker side of football, where players are pawns and very much dispensable.
As the champion moves towards the end of the show, he talks about what to expect in the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Ronaldo makes it clear, should Portugal win the World Cup, he will retire. That may seem like a long-range aerial shot at this point in time, to borrow a football term, but anything can happen in the World Cup.
Having already spoken about his lost child Angel and how the family struggled to cope with the trauma, Ronaldo offers a small peek into his personal life. That of a family man to the core, who loves his Argentinian girlfriend and kids. They mean the world to him, not the riches which he earns from plying his trade.
Cristiano Ronaldo speaks glowingly about Lionel Messi on the eve of the FIFA World Cup
Can an interview be complete without a mention of Lionel Messi? This is where Ronaldo shows respect, love, adulation, and admiration for Messi. Having played together for 16 years at the same club, the two know each other well. Who is No.1 and who is No.2 is immaterial. “He is an amazing player. Magic. Top. As a person, we share the stage 16 years. Imagine 16 years. So, I have great relationship with him,” said Ronaldo.
He quickly changes the tone, then. Being professionals and respecting each other is fine but the two are not friends or bum chums. For Ronaldo, a friend is someone who comes to your house, socializes, and so on. No, that’s not the equation between them. This is where Ronaldo shows honesty which borders on being brutal. He is not lying in that he is a great pal of Leo.
“I’m not a friend of him, in terms of what I mean as a friend who was with you in your house or speaking on the phone. No, but it’s like a teammate. He’s a guy that I really respect the way he always speaks about me. Even his wife or my wife, my girlfriend, they always have respect and they’re from Argentina,” says Ronaldo.
If you needed to know one champion and what’s in his heart, Ronaldo has poured it out. Maybe, one day, we will hear from Messi in a similar fashion. Trust Piers Morgan to come up with the hottest stuff. These two episodes with Ronaldo got him more views than that of his interview with Donald Trump. Says a lot, doesn’t it?
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S Kannan
(382 Articles Published)