A big freeze is predicted to envelop Spain this weekend, the first wave of winter after an unseasonably mild autumn, with temperatures dropping close to zero in Madrid. The heaters tucked under the lips of the stands at the Bernabeu can be put to use for Saturday’s clasico, but one question among the 80,000 fans will be whether Cristiano Ronaldo will again freeze in the white of Madrid.
Real Madrid's best player has been less than his usual spectacular self this season. Maybe it is better to peak later in the season and not halfway through as Madrid did last term, but Ronaldo has failed to score in seven of his side's 11 league games so far. His eight league goals keep him in contention near the top of the Pichichi chart, but he is behind Neymar and Luis Suarez and on the same number as Real Sociedad's Imanol Agirretxe and Rayo Vallecano's Javi Guerra.
Five of Ronaldo’s goals came in one game at Espanyol. He also failed to score over 180 minutes in two games against Paris Saint-Germain in the Uefa Champions League.
It is the Portuguese forward’s lowest return since his first season in Spain in 2009. After 11 games, he has been in double figures every season since; a year ago he had scored 18.
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With parallels to Wayne Rooney's situation at Manchester United, debate persists as to whether his form is a blip or part of a broader decline in his game after a decade of stellar seasons. Ronaldo is 31 in February and his game has not changed. He still likes to lead the line, to shoot frequently and use his pace and power to get past opponents. A fantastic professional who went in search of physical perfection, there has been no discernible decline in his prowess, but the goals are not coming in a team which has collectively scored the most in Primera Liga.
Ronaldo has complained about his side’s tactics under new coach Rafa Benitez. In their last game, against Sevilla where Madrid tasted their first defeat of the season, he was seen complaining to Sergio Ramos that the team was playing too deep. Ronaldo could also point out that several of Madrid’s attacking players, notably Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and James Rodriguez, have been missing from the team for the past two months.
Statistics can be misleading and if the goalscoring form of Ronaldo, his nemesis Lionel Messi and their closest challenger, Neymar, are compared, the Madrid player has still scored the most goals of the three over the past twelve months. Ronaldo has had more shots than any of Barcelona’s front three, too, but Ronaldo is less of a team player, more a goalscorer driven by individual glory. He tackles less, dribbles less, provides fewer assists than any of Barca’s attacking triumvirate.
In his new film Ronaldo, which he has been promoting during the international break and which premiered in London this week, he admits to being a loner. The film is a hagiographic portrayal of a man who sees himself as the finest footballer ever, a message that people on his payroll will happily push.
Ronaldo is unquestionably one of the greatest players ever and, according to Xavi, the former Barcelona stalwart, even better because of the rivalry with Messi. Ronaldo has won everything there is to win in football, including every trophy at Madrid, but even the team’s most popular talents have moved on when they have still much to offer as Iker Casillas can testify.
Despite Ronaldo stating that he wants to finish his career in Spain, the speculation about his future is incessant, a guaranteed driver of hits to whoever publishes the story, which many do. Manchester United are the club most often linked, one of few who could afford his wages.
Ronaldo and his agent Jorge Mendes excel at keeping others interested. They do it to win better contracts at Madrid, with Ronaldo and Messi both playing football’s equivalent of an arms’ race to make sure Ronaldo is the best paid player in the world.
United are the favoured bargaining chip since the club wants him and can afford him. They felt they were close to getting him back to Old Trafford in 2014, but with each passing year his value diminishes. Louis van Gaal had been predominantly building a side by buying emerging talents, not ageing ones, though as the purchase of Bastian Schweinsteiger, 31, showed, United are still in the market for top players.
The Catalan media were not the only ones to throw potentially unsettling comments into the pre-clasico mix, with Barca’s former president Joan Laporta claiming that Mendes offered Ronaldo to him when he was president between 2003-2011.
Laporta also suggested that now is a good time for Ronaldo to make a move to the Premier League. How the Portuguese performs in tomorrow’s clasico will affect the mood around him and those who pay his wages: Cash in while his value is still high, or persist with a player who remains one of the best two in the world.
sports@thenational.ae
