Cristiano Ronaldo scored his first senior goal in professional football 20 years ago yesterday (October 7).
The goal came for Sporting Lisbon and, as Record describes, “the Portuguese international, who was 17 at the time, took the ball, dribbled past two rivals and when João Ricardo came out of the goal, he passed the ball over him.
“During the celebrations, Ronaldo took off his shirt, as was the 2-0 against Moreirense, at the Alvalade [Sporting Lisbon’s stadium].
“The Portuguese striker scored twice in the match (it ended 3-0) that went down in history.”
Fast-forward those 20 years and the legend has added a further 697 goals to that total, soon reaching the magical 700, a tally never before reached and a record likely to stand for many years to come.
The anniversary passed with a whimper, as the day before he had changed his lines while his teammates tried to hit him many times to try to cap the occasion with that elusive 700th goal. It was not to be.
It seems like just a few weeks ago that everyone was talking about how Ronaldo has stayed so fit that he has the body of a 30-year-old man, who should be able to play at the highest level until he is 40 and so on. Now, after a poor start to the season, it looks like the beginning of the end. For some, it seems like the end of the end.
How sad it was to see the humiliation of him going public to demand a transfer to a Champions League club, only to find that no one wanted him.
This should not be the end. This cannot be the final chapter in that 20-year career. Ronaldo deserves to go out in a blaze of glory.
And deep down, it feels like there’s still life in the old dog, and everyone dismissed him too soon.
Yes, he has lost a meter of pace and has struggled to find the back of the net this season. But that could be as much due to form and lack of a proper preseason, at least in part, as it was due to his age.
He’s had to reinvent himself before, when dribbling and stepping back gave way to the more energy-conserving goalscoring predator. Perhaps all that is needed now is another adjustment, to a more Benzema style of play, a centre-forward who blends power, cunning, aggression and vision rather than relying on pace and timing.
Whether at United or elsewhere, that swan song has to come and United must do whatever it takes to try to help him sing it.
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