Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the greatest goalscorers of this century in football, faces his longest drought since mid-2018.
With more than 800 goals in his career, the Portuguese doesn’t know what it’s like to hit the net for five matches, considering the regulation time. For him, a goalscoring machine, that’s an eternity.
The five-time best footballer in the world (2008, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017) has yet to score this year.
His last goal celebration came on 30 December, in Manchester United’s 3-1 triumph over Burnley at Old Trafford.
In 2018, starting in June and continuing in August and September –there was a vacation in July–, CR7 also spent five consecutive matches without goals.
Of those five games, three were in the Italian Championship, for the club he had just transferred to, and the others, almost two months before those, for the Portuguese team at the World Cup in Russia.
Before failing to score in those matches, Cristiano Ronaldo scored in Portugal’s 1-0 win over Morocco at the World Cup on June 20. And ended the drought with a pair of goals in the 2 to 1 of Juventus against Sassuolo, on the 16th of September.
The current phase of the 37-year-old forward is so bad that he, in a difficult situation to believe, was in the reserve, by technical option, in a valid match for competition.
It happened on Tuesday (8), when Manchester United visited Burnley and went 1-1 in the Premier League. Cristiano Ronaldo warmed up the bench until the 23rd minute of the second half, when he replaced Uruguayan Cavani.
In the previous game, for the FA Cup, the ace missed a penalty in the first half, and the Red Devils drew 1-1 with Middlesbrough, seventh in the second division.
The decision went to a penalty shootout and Cristiano Ronaldo even converted his kick, but his team was eliminated after losing 8-7, much to the sadness of the crowd at Old Trafford.
In 2022, Manchester United were on the field on seven occasions, and the Portuguese was not included for two matches, on January 10 and 15, due to hip pain.
His relationship with German coach Ralf Rangnick, who has been in the role on an interim basis since Ole Solskjaer was sacked at the end of November, has shown signs of turmoil.
Hungry by nature, Cristiano Ronaldo was extremely dissatisfied when he was substituted halfway through the second half against Brentford on the 19th of last month.
Dissatisfied, asked Rangnick, as he sat about two meters away from him: “Why me?”. There was no immediate response, but later the German claimed to have explained the reasons to him.
The coach kept the star’s title in the following two games, however, without the expected return, he relegated him to the reserve in the most recent one.
Even in low, Cristiano Ronaldo is expected to start playing this Saturday (12) at Old Trafford, against Southampton, when he will have the opportunity to make peace with the nets, with the coach and with the fans.
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