Ronaldo and his new big family

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Something like that was said just after slamming the door on Real Madrid and joining Juventus in Turin. He was happy. He was pleased. On July 10, 2018, he felt the best, the greatest; in short, the most important player on the planet. It is also not uncommon for a legendary goalscorer like him to have those feelings, but I find it somewhat strange how the deterioration in that love at first sight has been evidenced by his behaviour after being replaced a couple of times.

In the first instance, his current coach (Maurizio Sarri) fought as he could and justified those 10 minutes that Cristiano Ronaldo did not play, pointing to the risk of a possible injury and the inconvenience it could entail.

But, when a few days later he was replaced in the match against AC Milan, with the scores at 0-0 and lots of time left, the Portuguese went straight to the dressing room instead of sitting on the bench with his teammates to experience the end of the uncertain game. He left the stadium minutes before it ended, too. All this smells like is that Cristiano has come to realise that the great family he had found in Turin is beginning to feel a little less great.

His replacement, Paulo Dybala, scored and unlocked the match with his goal. Sarri was fine, speaking again of some discomfort and thanking him for his effort. And surely Cristiano had discomfort, but I think that his position was with his current family, with his teammates on the bench giving encouragement, pushing and demonstrating that he is part of that family that he defined as “a united, humble group and where everyone wants to win. If Dybala or [Mario] Mandzukic don’t score, they are equally happy…”

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To which he added, in those December statements, that “at Real Madrid they are also humble, but here it seems to me that they are more so. It is very different with respect to Madrid; here it is more like a family.”

And my current question is: if you feel so close to this family, why have you acted like this? Humility is for everyone and, the bigger he is, and he is immense as a player, the more one should lead by example.

I don’t like anything I have seen in the images. I may miss something, but he must set an example. There are lots of people watching and many children who want to be football players, who will end up imitating him. That’s very bad.

PS: only a couple of numbers. In his 16 months at Juventus, Cristiano has scored 34 goals and has provided 12 assists (a descending average with respect to his numbers with his ‘other family’, Real Madrid). Karim Benzema, in the same period (without Cristiano on his team), has scored seven more goals (41) and has given one more assist (13). Perhaps this fact also makes the Portuguese somewhat introspective?

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