by Luca Caioli
The second goal from Pedro seals the game. Messi and Pep Guardiola have beaten Ronaldo and Pellegrini. Barça are back in the lead with a three-point advantage over their rivals, 80 to 77.
But Real aren’t ready to give up just yet. On the 35th matchday, they make history when they rack up 29 league wins in a single season. And it’s all thanks to Cristiano, who has been holding the team together throughout La Liga, coming to the rescue time and again and encouraging his team-mates. He is reminiscent of the late Juanito, instigating comebacks in the final moments of a match, like the one against Osasuna on 2 May. He responds to two consecutive hat-tricks by Messi (against Valencia and Zaragoza) with a hat-trick of his own against Mallorca. He single-handedly keeps up the pressure on Barça, who have just been knocked out of the Champions League by Mourinho’s Inter Milan.
By the penultimate matchday, there is just one point separating the two Spanish giants. Barça and Real have moved so far ahead that third place Valencia trail the leaders by a staggering 28 points.
It’s Sunday 16 May, the final matchday of the season and the finish line is in sight. Barcelona smash Valladolid 4-0, while Real can only manage a draw away to Málaga at the Rosaleda. The Blaugrana are home and dry, celebrating their twentieth La Liga title and a record 99 points to Real’s 96. The entire championship has been an incredible duel between the nation’s two greatest teams.
Despite two months out due to injury, Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 33 goals: 26 in La Liga compared with Messi’s 34, and seven in the Champions League compared with Messi’s eight. As a team Real have actually beaten Barça by four goals, with a total tally of 102. Cristiano has dazzled the fans at the Bernabéu and managed to convince his team-mates that he is something special. Anyone who had preconceived ideas about him being a diva or a narcissist has discovered a down-to-earth, affectionate and generous player, who speaks his mind and above all who is a born competitor.
Casillas sums up the feeling in the dressing room: ‘Cristiano has a winning mentality. You always know he will give that little bit extra in a match. He has a knack of destabilising the opponent. He is always mentally focused.’ In short, he has provided a much needed dose of adrenaline to a tired team. Manuel Pellegrini is particularly impressed. ‘I have encouraged the team to play for him,’ he says, although it’s not strictly true.
Cristiano has reassured the club directors, who were worried about the possibility of him going out partying, getting into scandals with girls and appearing on the covers of the tabloids every week. In actual fact, he has been out very little and has proven himself a consummate professional who puts his club duties first. When he has a day off or a holiday that’s another matter. Ultimately, Cristiano has divided public opinion down the middle, resulting in the ‘anti-Cristianos’ and the staunch loyalists, each ready to defend their corner.
Most importantly for the club, the most expensive player in footballing history has proven extremely profitable thanks to his global image, his goal-scoring abilities, and good marketing. He has completely overtaken Florentino’s other two ‘galactic’ signings, Kaká and Benzema, neither of whom have managed to live up to what was expected of them. His balance sheet is definitely in the black.
But it’s still not good enough as far as the man himself is concerned, admitting that he is never satisfied with his achievements. ‘I feel sad and frustrated at not having won a single title,’ he says, summing up his first season in an interview with Público. ‘We are all a little bit to blame. But I’m not surprised that the finger has been pointed at Pellegrini. Football is wonderful but it has its own rulebook. And one rule is that the coach is always the weakest member of the team. It has always been and will always be that way. There is not much more you can say.’
He explains that the new team has been ‘a work in progress. There have been many new signings and you can’t build a team overnight. We have some great players, that’s undeniable, but our team is not fully formed, we’re not completely integrated and polished like Barcelona.’ On the subject of his rivals, he adds: ‘Barcelona scored 99 points in La Liga. It’s obvious that they won fair and square. Anyone who loves football will tell you that you have to admire a good performance. Barça play very attractive football, it’s very well executed. As a football fan I would be lying if I said that I didn’t enjoy watching them play. I like watching them, but I also love watching Real Madrid. We still don’t have a perfect team, we’re not as polished as they are, but we will be. We just need time to win the titles and I’m sure that next season will be an entirely different story.’
But before we get carried away talking about next season, there’s the South Africa World Cup to contend with first. What better way to draw a line under the frustrations of this season and move on to better things.
Chapter 21
Spain v Portugal
‘I think Spain have a good chance of winning the World Cup, but I’m not afraid of them in the slightest.’
Ronaldo’s performance with Portugal in the qualifiers has been null and void in terms of goals. It’s been fifteen months since he scored, but he’s not too worried. And paraphrasing what van Nistelrooy said to Higuaín to cheer him up at Real Madrid, he maintains that ‘Goals are like ketchup. Once they start flowing they come in sudden bursts, all at once.’
At a press release in Magaliesberg – his first since arriving in South Africa on 13 June – a smiling and relaxed Portugal captain indicates that the team are ‘fine, prepared and motivated. Everyone is doing great and I’m very happy to be a part of this group.’
Addressing his own performance, he adds: ‘I want to play well, I want to be the best in the tournament. I’m not saying I’ll necessarily be the top goal-scorer or anything like that, but I’m going to give it my all and try and be the best. It’s always my aim to be the best, but we’ll see. I really want to do well in this World Cup and I believe I can succeed. But when I say that I want to play well, have a good tournament and help my team win, that doesn’t mean to say I have to prove myself to anyone.’
Group G sees Portugal up against Brazil, North Korea and the Ivory Coast – a tough ask. Cristiano believes it is the most difficult group in the competition, adding that the Ivory Coast match is crucial. ‘It’s extremely important to hit the ground running in the World Cup.’
If Portugal get through the group stages they could face Spain’s Red Fury. ‘It would be great to face Spain,’ says CR7 in reply to the obvious question from the Spanish press. ‘It would mean that we’ve made it through the group stage, which is our main objective. After that we’ll see what happens. Spain are one of the favourites, I think they have a good chance of winning the World Cup. They have a great team, but I’m not afraid of them in the slightest and if we face them we’ll try to beat them. In the knockout stages anything is possible.’
Portugal make it through the group stages – unbeaten and the only team of the 32 World Cup finalists to have kept a completely clean sheet. It’s a continuation of a great run of form: they have only conceded one goal in eleven matches (in a friendly against Cameroon) and they remain undefeated in eighteen matches. Portuguese selector Carlos Queiroz, Sir Alex Ferguson’s former right-hand man and ex-Real coach, has created an indestructible defence line-up. And goalkeeper Eduardo has been a pleasant surprise. It’s been difficult to get past him.
Their scoreline reads 0-0 against the Ivory Coast, 7-0 against North Korea and 0-0 against Brazil. With five points, Portugal have made it through to the final sixteen after coming second in the group to the Brazilian Canaries. On 29 June at the Green Point stadium in Cape Town they will face Spain, who have come top in Group H despite a defeat in their opening match against Ottmar Hitzfeld’s Switzerland. It’s the clash all the pundits predicted at the start of the tournament.
Portugal v Spain is a special match, not just because they are two great teams and not just because of the neighbourly rivalry – be it historic, cultural, social or sporting. It’s a peninsula derby ‘wit
h the same intensity as Argentina-Brazil’, explains Queiroz. The two national teams have never played each other in a World Cup. Of the 32 times they have played each other, Spain have won fifteen, Portugal five and twelve have been drawn. In Euro 2004, hosts Portugal knocked Spain out of the tournament with a 1-0 win on 20 June. Six years on, the Red Fury are ready to even the score.
And let’s not forget the Cristiano factor. The number 7 has terrorised the Spanish defenders in La Liga, he has won entire games on his own, he’s the leader of the Portuguese team and star of the World Cup along with Leo Messi. It’s true that with Portugal he hasn’t put on quite such a stellar performance, and he hasn’t succeeded in showing the fans what he has shown the Spanish crowds during his first year at Real. But against North Korea in South Africa he has broken his scoring curse and netted six of Portugal’s seven goals. One of them is a particular crowd-pleaser: as he tries to get past goalkeeper Ri Myong-Guk, the ball deflects off the Korean, spins over Cristiano’s head and lands on the back of his neck. He manages to control it, heading it back into the air and then scoring. His two-year goal drought with the Red and Greens is over and he is awarded best player in the group phase. He is seen as the number one threat in the upcoming match against Spain.
Spanish coach Vicente del Bosque praises the Portuguese star, but he says: ‘I don’t think we are obsessing over Cristiano. The most important thing is to focus on Portugal as a team. They have shown themselves to be very adept, both in defence and up front. They have come to this World Cup on top form, ready to fight for it.’ Cesc Fàbregas agrees, telling Spanish national daily newspaper El País: ‘Portugal as a team are much more on form than Cristiano. They’re powerful and extremely dangerous on the counterattack. They’re a very competitive team and their defence is not to be messed with. Alves is the Porto captain, Carvalho has made a name for himself at Chelsea … ’
Nonetheless, the obsession with Cristiano Ronaldo is alive and well. To the Spanish fans, Portugal is Ronaldo, despite all the statements to the contrary from the Red Fury camp. Besides, the fans are dying to see how he will fair against his own team-mates, Sergio Ramos and Iker Casillas, as well as against Barça defenders Piqué and Puyol, whom he has faced in some historic duels, both during his time at Man United and in the last season at Real Madrid. Everyone in the Spanish defence is afraid of him.
Álvaro Arbeloa has played against him during his time at Liverpool: ‘There is no magic formula for putting the brakes on Cristiano. That’s exactly why he’s one of the best players in the world – most people try to stop him and fail. If he’s near the box you have to stay on top of him and try to disrupt his shot at goal. If you give him space to run he’ll put enormous pressure on you. His run is devastating.’ As the rival captain, Casillas knows Cristiano’s technique and shots by heart – and he is even more categorical than his team-mates: ‘When a player like him is inspired, it’s almost impossible to stop him.’
It’s not just the opposition that recognise his talents. Bookmaker William Hill is offering 7/1 on him scoring against Spain – the best odds on any Portuguese player, despite the fact that they are not favourites to win – a price of 2.62 against 1.44 on Spain according to the bookies.
‘They can still win without being the favourites,’ says Francois Pienaar, South African rugby captain and 1995 world champion. The man who inspired Clint Eastwood’s film Invictus, starring Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman, visits the Portuguese team the night before the match in an effort to psych up Cristiano & Co. Carlos Queiroz has invited him to chat to the players, explaining that ‘he is a symbol of South Africa – the man who led a mixed race team for the first time. They were the underdogs but they became world champions. He represents the idea that anything is possible.’
The Iberian derby takes place against an impressive backdrop: Green Point stadium has thirteen stands and 62,955 spectators, not to mention a view of Table Mountain and two converging oceans. Almeida has been reintroduced as a centre forward, leaving Ronaldo free to command the wing. The Portuguese captain has finally won over Queiroz to claim his desired spot. After the clash with Brazil where he played in the number 9 position, Cristiano tried to stay diplomatic: ‘The gaffer knows I don’t like playing up front, it’s not my preferred position. But the important thing is that we qualified,’ he explained. ‘If we had needed Cristiano to play in goal he would have played in goal,’ responded the coach. Nonetheless, against Spain he lets him play where he feels most comfortable.
The Spanish selectors opt for the same line-up that beat Chile. Xabi Alonso has recovered and Del Bosque bets on Fernando Torres once again as a partner up front for David Villa. The national anthems play and Cristiano remains silent. It’s a bad sign, almost a premonition of how his performance will pan out. It’s a disaster. Four shots, two on target. In the sixteenth minute a long free kick lands safely into the hands of Casillas. In the 27th he repeats the move from 33 yards, the Spanish captain doesn’t manage to stop it completely, but luckily it’s out of the reach of the Portuguese strikers.
Other than that Cristiano makes two passes into the box, he is fouled once and makes two failed attempts at a run. The only moment worth mentioning is when he crosses with a rabona, a speciality of his, where one leg crosses behind the other to kick the ball, avoiding having to turn. That’s about it in terms of his performance. He starts on the right, later moves to the left wing and then plays in the centre in the number 9 position after Queiroz brings on Dany for Almeida. But no matter where he plays, he fails to make an impact. Capdevila, Sergio Ramos and Puyol all manage to block him, with a little help from Villa, Busquets and Xabi Alonso. ‘They managed to make Ronaldo go virtually unnoticed. They rendered him powerless,’ explains Del Bosque later. ‘It’s more of a compliment to them than it is a criticism of Cristiano.’
At the end of the first half, with the scoreline still at 0-0, the number 7 is the first to head for the dressing room. He is not happy with how the team are playing: too reserved, too sensible, not decisive enough and far too trapped in their own half. He is not happy with how the first 45 minutes have played out.
In the second half, after David Villa’s goal in the 67th minute, he is seen standing alone, hands on hips, looking over at the dugout, as if demanding an explanation, pleading for some help and advice in order to turn their fortunes around. But Carlos Queiroz doesn’t have the answers. At the final whistle, Spain celebrates a win which will take them into the quarter-finals. Portuguese goalkeeper Eduardo, who has performed miracles but was powerless in the face of Villa’s double shot, is sitting on the ground crying into his hands. Iker Casillas puts his arm around him.
Cristiano Ronaldo walks away from his defeated and broken team. He is booed by the Spanish fans, and even some of the Portuguese. The camera follows him closely as he heads for the dressing room, his face expressionless. Suddenly he turns and spits – it’s unclear whether it’s directed at the cameraman or the ground. Either way it’s an ugly gesture and the Barcelona press pounce on it, criticising the Real player’s behaviour. His pointed statement after the match also sparks plenty of anger: ‘How do I explain Portugal’s elimination? Ask Carlos Queiroz.’ It is not a great example of how a captain should bow out of a World Cup.
The coach takes the opportunity to respond at the press conference: ‘While I’m in charge of the national team, if the size of the shirt is too small for anybody they do not need to be here … Nobody is above the national selection and never will be while I’m here.’ But when asked if he perhaps should not have given the important captaincy role to Cristiano, he is annoyed: ‘That question is out of order. [He] is our leader, our captain … you must believe that we did it for the right reasons.’
Former Portugal captain and hero Luís Figo disagrees: ‘Regardless of failure or elimination, a captain always has to defend his team. Even if he was the one who took the biggest hit in terms of his reputation. Above all, he should put on a brave face for the team throughout, even in the most diffi
cult moments.’
Cristiano’s new coach José Mourinho comes out in defence of his player via a statement made to the Portuguese press agency: ‘With me, Cristiano will not have to shoulder all the responsibility. In my team, when we win, we are all winners. When we lose, I am the one who loses … That’s why Ronaldo can relax and enjoy his holiday. I will not allow anyone to put all the pressure on him. Players become stars because they are the best, but everyone needs the support of their team and Portugal lost because Spain was better.’
Respected Benfica coach Jorge Jesús also sides with Cristiano, maintaining that his statement was to be expected. ‘He has what it takes,’ he explains. ‘And it’s not just about whether the press value him; throughout Spain he is a revered and respected player. Here in Portugal, not so much … but that’s just how the Portuguese are.’
A handful of advocates aside, Cristiano’s behaviour is causing quite a stir and eventually Jorge Mendes’s agency GestiFute releases a statement on the player’s behalf. ‘I am suffering and I have the right to suffer alone. When I said people should ask the coach [why Portugal were eliminated], it was because he was at the press conference and I didn’t feel I was in the right frame of mind to explain things. As the captain I have always taken my responsibilities seriously and will continue to do so, but at that moment I would not have been able to string together more than three or four coherent sentences. I never thought that such a simple comment would provoke such a reaction. Don’t go looking for phantoms – you won’t find any.’