Cristiano Ronaldo has been making some headlines in the European pre-season due to rumors that he wants to leave Manchester United.
The 37-year-old Portuguese star does not want to miss the Champions League, the main interclub of the old continent and of which he is the top scorer.
CR7 has 140 goals in the competition –141, if you consider what he scored in one of the qualifying stages.
In addition to wanting to be in the main showcase of European football, Cristiano, superb by nature, does not want to risk losing this record to his main opponent in the dispute to define who is the best footballer of this first quarter of a century.
Messi, the Argentine superstar, has scored 125 goals in the Champions League and is guaranteed to participate in it from September, with Paris Saint-Germain.
Man United, with a disappointing campaign in the Premier League, did not qualify for the Champions League.
Sixth in the Premier League (not through Cristiano’s fault, who kept his scoring instincts), he will play in the Europa League, the second most important interclub in Europe.
With a very strong attack, which also has Neymar and Mbappé, it is quite possible that PSG will apply some routs in the group stage – the rivals will still be defined by draw –, with Messi having the chance to score many goals.
In this context, media outlets have published that CR7’s agent, Jorge Mendes, is looking for a club that is in the Champions League to fit his client, who still has a year on his contract with Man United, with the option of renewal for more a.
These news, which show that Cristiano may return to Italian Juventus, a club he defended from 2018 to 2021, or go to Atlético de Madrid or Sporting (Portugal), have been making Red Devils fans attentive – such as Man United is known.
One of them posted this message on social media: “Cristiano Ronaldo is not on Manchester United’s list of friends for this weekend’s friendlies against Atlético Madrid (Saturday) and Rayo Vallecano (Sunday). His future remains open. “.
The post had a response from the Portuguese striker: “Sunday the king plays”. Sunday’s match (31) will be at Old Trafford, the home of Man United. This Saturday (30), the friendly is in Oslo (Norway).
With that sentence, Cristiano Ronaldo sends two messages.
The first is that, with the start of the season approaching – the English starts on Friday, the 5th of August – he intends to give the fans, with his presence in front of the Spanish team, the hope that he will continue in Manchester.
A way to not generate antipathy in the crowd, at least for a while, because nothing guarantees that the “I stay” will actually happen, since the transfer window runs until September 1, with the championships in progress.
The second message is that he, CR7, considers himself the king of football. Well, the king of football is the best player in the history of the sport, right?
Less, Cristiano, much less.
Scholars and/or great football connoisseurs claim, quite rightly in my view, that the king of football, yesterday, today and forever, is Brazilian and his name is Edson Arantes do Nascimento. Pele.
Winner of three World Cups (the first of which at the age of 17), scorer of more than 1,200 goals, multi-champion with Santos, Pelé, elected the athlete of the 20th century in a vote by the newspaper L’Équipe, was a much more complete and much more spectacular than Cristiano Ronaldo (or anyone else, Messi included) is.
In the pre-internet era, with communications in the world not being online, Pele was known in the four corners of the world. He was worshiped in every city he set foot. He stopped until the war in Nigeria in the late 1960s because the country wanted to see him play.
Cristiano’s sentence, therefore, sounds like a heresy, an affront, a sloppiness.
Pele is the King of football, with a capital “R”. Cristiano, as the great player that he is, should recognize this, placing himself in the gallery of princes – there, yes, acceptable and fair.
But his ego doesn’t allow it, because Cristiano’s ego is, unfortunately, much bigger than his football.
I have worked in the news industry for over 10 years. I have a vast amount of experience in covering health news. I am also an author at News Bulletin 247. I am highly experienced and knowledgeable in this field. I am a hard worker and always deliver quality work. I am a reliable source of information and always provide accurate information.
