A leader is only as good as the men he leads.
Look at John Terry, written off and ready to be let go at the end of 2013, but he stands now captaining the champions of England. Around a rejuvenated side, the veteran has gleamed out, galvanised by his comrades.
In 2009, when Real Madrid signed Cristiano Ronaldo, they demanded a great player. And a great player they got. But perhaps, too great. Even at £80 million, Real Madrid got more than they bargained for.
The Galacticos aura, the MEGA feel about Real skyrocketed with the transfer. And Ronaldo, being hailed as the next football God, was the new prince of the Bernabéu.
Six years on though, the prince is yet to win a war. He has excelled at battles, but it's wars that win laurels. The extraordinary Real-Ronaldo marriage has only yielded one La Liga title and one Champions League medal, which surely is not good enough.
La Decima, the trophy Bernabéu had so dearly being waiting for, a final sapphire in their golden crown of world dominance, was delivered in 2014; five years after Ronaldo arrived. But it was not delivered by the best winger in the world.
It was Sergio Ramos' equaliser and Ronaldo's apparent successor Gareth Bale who delivered the trophy ahead of Atletico who almost snatched it from Los Blancos. Ronaldo could only score a tame penalty in Real's final flourish, and hope that his overdone celebration would be the image that people remember the match by.
Bigger egos have donned the white shirt of Real Madrid, bigger egos have been booted out. Ronaldo's arrogance, although backed by his exceptional performance, is weighing down this great club.
There is no Real Madrid team, no Galacticos. The current Real Madrid squad is Ronaldo and Co - 10 men supporting Ronaldo's quest to be ahead of Messi in the goals tally.
Real Madrid with Ronaldo now is like a race car running low on fuel. The weight reduction helps the performance, but ultimately you need the fuel to finish the race.
Florentino Pérez, the man who builds the Galacticos, has to make his decision, or risk another season of failure.
The team does not attack, they cross into the opponent's half and seek Ronaldo.
They do not win, they aid Ronaldo in scoring more goals than the opposition.
They do not lose, they let Ronaldo down.
Ronaldo might really be the greatest footballer of all time, but what good would that be? What would we remember him by?
His flashy skills in beating defenders? His superhot girlfriends? His charity work? His celebration styles? His multiple Ballon d'Ors?
No.
As Jose Mourinho rightly said, if you win no trophies, nobody remembers how great you were.
Ronaldo has four major titles with Real. Two of them were won by Gareth Bale, and the Liga title under the tactical genius of Mourinho.
Should Real still cling on to their false pretence that Ronaldo makes them a better team?
Yes, his goals make a difference. But any leading winger in the world would have produced results with players like Di Maria, Modric, Alonso, behind and around him.
However, would Ronaldo have been able to keep up with Messi if he had still been in United, a side that was crumbling and eventually fell during the same period? Would Ronaldo have been able to keep a veteran star like Van Persie at bay and demanded 'all passes' ahead of the striker, much like he did with Benzema and Higuain?
Real Madrid miss Mourinho more than they realise now. They need someone with the guts to face Ronaldo and tell him to be a team player. To bench him if need be. Ancelotti, Ramos are not that man. Casillas is too beaten down himself to face anyone, and Bale has been hammered into nothing by his team and supporters.
Perez should; but would he?
Does Ronaldo's hype and marketability make him indispensable to Real? Probably yes.
Bale's decline in form hasn't helped either.
Ronaldo's expressive disgust at every chance his team mates take at goal, his displeasure at their misses, his annoyance with their misplaced passes, makes Real Madrid susceptible. It makes the team weak.
The team is not playing for the fans, not for themselves, not for money, not for trophies, they play to be with Ronaldo. They play to help Ronaldo.
The Galacticos of all teams, cannot be about one man.
Real Madrid are not used to trophy less seasons. Ronaldo would perhaps have the comfort of the Golden Shoe, but not the Galacticos.
And so while Messi would take home another treble possibly, Ronaldo would be left bickering on how he is carrying the club, even though he is the pest crumbling it.
For the sake of good football, I hope Messi gives Ronaldo a tip about adjusting to new team mates, or else B(ale)-B(enzema)-C(ristiano) would fade away from memories, while M(essi)-S(uarez)-N(eymar) turn immortals.
But would Florentino Pérez bother?
Maybe he has just decided to bear one more season of anxiety, until he snatches Eden Hazard from Chelsea and finally gets a Galactico that can play with his team.
http://www.givemesport.com/579381-cristiano-ronaldo-is-damaging-real-madrid?autoplay=on

U were making sense until you brought Messi into the picture. Things just went bad for Madrid this season. Besides who does barca play for. Who does iniesta and xavi give all final passes arnd the 2007 till date

op, I like your write up. Ronaldo is part of money making machine at madrid. That name alone can market 'poo' in any part of the world. Again, you are right in stating that Ronaldo is part of madrid problem. Yes, he has not been a team player lately. His unquenchable thirst to be ahead of Messi in every competition has created problems for madrid.

What Messi sacrifices for his team, Ronaldo takes it and makes it his glory. Too much division in that team and if care isn't taken, they might go without trophy next season.

NeduLuiZ:
U were making sense until you brought Messi into the picture. Things just went bad for Madrid this season. Besides who does barca play for. Who does iniesta and xavi give all final passes arnd the 2007 till date

it seems you dont watch laliga anymore...messsi has given 50 percent of assists in barca...messi's approach to games is not about himself but the team...watch how he celebrates with neymar and suarez and you would see the drive he has for the team...ronaldos case is different...when match gets really hard,instead of ronaldo witdrawing back into d midfield to pull the strings he runs straight to the box 18 to struggle for goals with benzema,bale etc....

Nice write up Bro
I like Ronaldo but his glory seeking can be appalling

IzonOwei:
it seems you dont watch laliga anymore...messsi has given 50 percent of assists in barca...messi's approach to games is not about himself but the team...watch how he celebrates with neymar and suarez and you would see the drive he has for the team...ronaldos case is different...when match gets really hard,instead of ronaldo witdrawing back into d midfield to pull the strings he runs straight to the box 18 to struggle for goals with benzema,bale etc....

Then explain to me how he has the most assists for his team this season.2 behind messi in the league, and one behind Messi in the UCL since he spends his time in the 18 yard box.What happened to Messi last season when Ronaldo had more goals and more assists than him in the UCL and Barca went trophyless?

I was starting to see reason in your article until you stated that Ramos and Bale handed Real madrid the UCL last season.I never knew the group stage games, round of 16, q-final don't matter.According to you, the UCL starts at the semi-final and final.In case you didn't know Ronaldo had the 2nd highest assists for Real madrid in the UCL last season only behind Di maria despite scoring the most goals in the UCL.You also said that any leading winger would do well with Players like di maria, alonso and co in Real madrid.I would like to know how well the likes of Ashley young and Robben has done since these players left Real.The truth is that Ronaldo would make any average midfielder look good due to his phenomenal one-touch finishing.What made you more of a hypocrite was when you said 'Two of Ronaldo's four major trophies was because of Bale and one due to mourinho's tactical genius'.When it comes to Ronaldo it is the genius of the coach, but when another player is involved then it is his brilliance.

Krasid:
Then explain to me how he has the most assists for his team this season.2 behind messi in the league, and one behind Messi in the UCL since he spends his time in the 18 yard box.What happened to Messi last season when Ronaldo had more goals and more assists than him in the UCL and Barca went trophyless?

we alll know barca had a lot of problems...coping with a coach who was down with cancer and the team trying to recover..and we all know messi suffered from an injury and returning..missed a whole lot matches...but critically checking the stats he still almost tied up with penaldo..if u take your time to watch ronaldo this season you would find out that the football he played was all for himself...all in a bid to outplay messi...while messi didnt give a damn,played team football and now will reclaim his world best...according to the OP who is a good match watcher he observed that the CL and copa del ray madrid won was championed by bale and ramos while penaldo was no where to be found...rather he was waiting to play a penalty just to remove his shirt later like he played all the match that day...ronaldo can win the golden shoe for laliga this season but ofcourse that wont award him the best player since he could not lead his team to victory...


I swear there has never been a season where messi and ronaldo were both in full form and ronaldo played better than messis...if there has ever been a season like that dont fail to remind me...

thank you..

During a penalty for Barcelona Messi handed the ball to Neymar to complete his hatrick, whereas CR7 was demanding for the electric chair for Abeloa (his team mate) for tapping in a ball that he was meant to tap in.

Krasid:
Then explain to me how he has the most assists for his team this season.2 behind messi in the league, and one behind Messi in the UCL since he spends his time in the 18 yard box.What happened to Messi last season when Ronaldo had more goals and more assists than him in the UCL and Barca went trophyless?

Was it last season Messi got Argentina to the world cup final? CR7 couldn't get Portugal out of a group that had both Ghana and USA in it. At Madrid even at United the whole team work for Ronaldo and G Bale is been demonized because he is trying to be single minded. Messi is a team player see how quickly Suarez settled in them.

IzonOwei:
we alll know barca had a lot of problems...coping with a coach who was down with cancer and the team trying to recover..and we all know messi suffered from an injury and returning..missed a whole lot matches...but critically checking the stats he still almost tied up with penaldo..i to outplay messi...while messi didnt give a damn,played team football and now will reclaim his world best...

LIES.Tata martino was not suffering from cancer, it was Tito vilanova and that was 2 seasons ago not last season.Critically checking the stats last season, Messi played more league games(31) than Ronaldo(30) who also suffered an injury towards the end of last season.Find another excuse.

The only thing incorrect in this beautiful write-up is giving credits only to Gareth Bale and Sergio Ramos for winning LaDecima.

IzonOwei:
if u take your time to watch ronaldo this season you would find out that the football he played was all for himself...all in a bid to outplay messi...while messi didnt give a damn,played team football and now will reclaim his world best...according to the OP who is a good match watcher he observed that the CL and copa del ray madrid won was championed by bale and ramos while penaldo was no where to be found...rather he was waiting to play a penalty just to remove his shirt later like he played all the match that day...ronaldo can win the golden shoe for laliga this season but ofcourse that wont award him the best player since he could not lead his team to victory...
I swear there has never been a season where messi and ronaldo were both in full form and ronaldo played better than messi.If there has been a season like that don't fail to remind me..Thank you

I watched him all through the season and noticed that he has been selfless right from the beginning.

ArchEnemy:
Nice write up Bro
I like Ronaldo but his glory seeking can be appalling

He is just fame-drunk

omar22:


Was it last season Messi got Argentina to the world cup final? CR7 couldn't get Portugal out of a group that had both Ghana and USA in it. At Madrid even at United the whole team work for Ronaldo and G Bale is been demonized because he is trying to be single minded. Messi is a team player see how quickly Suarez settled in them.

How about Neymar? How quickly did he settle last season.Was Ronaldo given credit on how quickly Bale settled in Madrid last season? Gareth bale is being demonized not because he is being 'single-minded' but because he is being selfish and unlike Ronaldo, Bale's selfishness is not yielding any fruit(goals).His selfishness almost cost madrid the UCL last season as he had about 3 chances which he should have passed to an unmarked player or scored but chose to waste.He was repeating the same this season and it cost Madrid league points.

omar22:
During a penalty for Barcelona Messi handed the ball to Neymar to complete his hatrick, whereas CR7 was demanding for the electric chair for Abeloa (his team mate) for tapping in a ball that he was meant to tap in.

During a league match against Bilbao this season when Ronaldo was on a brace, he was left one on one with the GK and chose to pass to Benzema (who scored) instead of scoring and completing a hat-trick(He later completed his hat-trick though).But people won't remember that as that is not the selfish Ronaldo they want to see.Haters will broadcast your failures, but whisper your success.

i agree with the op lalasticlala fp

Krasid:
LIES.Tata martino was not suffering from cancer, it was Tito vilanova and that was 2 seasons ago not last season.Critically checking the stats last season, Messi played more league games(31) than Ronaldo(30) who also suffered an injury towards the end of last season.Find another excuse.

oboy abeg put factz here...messi played more games than whhich ronaldo...

Krasid:
I watched him all through the season and noticed that he has been selfless right from the beginning.

i hope ur talking about messi and not penaldo that is scared to show himself in crucial matches..

IzonOwei:
oboy abeg put factz here...messi played more games than whhich ronaldo...

What i posted there were facts and that was why i specified the amount of games played.Messi played a total of 31 league games last season, started in 29 of those 31 games and played a total of 2518 minutes.Ronaldo played a total of 30 league games and played a total of 2563(Just 45 minutes less played than the 'injured' Messi).
http://www.whoscored.com/Regions/206/Tournaments/4/Seasons/3922/Stages/7920/PlayerStatistics/Spain-La-Liga-2013-2014

IzonOwei:
i hope ur talking about messi and not penaldo that is scared to show himself in crucial matches..

Hater spotted.I would only be wasting my time trying to convince a hater.Goodbye.

Krasid:
Hater spotted.I would only be wasting my time trying to convince a hater.Goodbye.

i am no hater...I am a watchful observer of good football..

This season clearly differentiates messi and ronaldo in the best of ways...both in full form...and the results are evident..

Krasid:
What i posted there were facts and that was why i specified the amount of games played.Messi played a total of 31 league games last season, started in 29 of those 31 games and played a total of 2518 minutes.Ronaldo played a total of 30 league games and played a total of 2563(Just 45 minutes less played than the 'injured' Messi).
http://www.whoscored.com/Regions/206/Tournaments/4/Seasons/3922/Stages/7920/PlayerStatistics/Spain-La-Liga-2013-2014

good...the messi up there wasnt even as fit as the normal messi we know,still he assisted more and was just two goals behind ronaldo who probably had scored penalties like crazy...let me check that up..

Hehehehe........ I dey laugh some funny comment here sha..


The Issue of Ronaldo and Messi will always have different side and twists and it will never end...

@op ur trash is full of sentiment and hatred. .go get a life,.......ask ur self where real Madrid would be without Cr7 300 plus goals

It's funny OP should mention John Terry. What has JT won for Chelsea in the last 5 years? Is it not the same 1 league title and Champions League. And please don't even mention the less fancied Europa league crown.

The simple truth is Ronaldo and his Real side, like the rest of Europe have had to contend with the exceptional brilliance of Barcelona and Messi. Take that away and Real would have been winning titles in droves while English teams would have won more UCL titles.

In reality, Ronaldo is the main reason Real have even managed to stay close to Barca in Spain.

Ronaldo this, Ronaldo that.......


All the blames will always go to him even if he scores 200 goals per season. So now when madrid performs well another player in the team did it. See them shouting ladecima as if the guy didn't contribute anything to the team. Ooh maybe madrid suddenly appeared in the final without the group matches and knockout.

Ok picture a scenario where you minus Ronaldo's contribution for the past 3 years. What will madrid look like? Is it the waste duo of Bale and benzema that they would depend on?

Every critic of this guy claims he is very selfish yet he has the highest assists for the team both in the league and champions league. Where is the selfishness? Or maybe he's even responsible for the injuries suffered by his teammate bale, benzema, modric etc.

This arguement does not just add up. Blame ronaldo when things go wrong then shift+change the pole then shift again to put the success on the team or another player when things are right.

IzonOwei:
i am no hater...I am a watchful observer of good football..

This season clearly differentiates messi and ronaldo in the best of ways...both in full form...and the results are evident..

well Ronaldo and messi played the same number of penalties in laliga last season

Krasid:
How about Neymar? How quickly did he settle last season.Was Ronaldo given credit on how quickly Bale settled in Madrid last season? Gareth bale is being demonized not because he is being 'single-minded' but because he is being selfish and unlike Ronaldo, Bale's selfishness is not yielding any fruit(goals).His selfishness almost cost madrid the UCL last season as he had about 3 chances which he should have passed to an unmarked player or scored but chose to waste.He was repeating the same this season and it cost Madrid league points.

Bale settled into the team because of Modric not Ronaldo, last season Bale's best games were when Ronaldo wasnt playing and the CL final Ronaldo went missing, where as Bale score the decisive goal. CR7 is desperate to join Platini and Messi those who have won the Ballon D'or 3 times in a row, Naymar struggled to settle due to feeling home sick and moving from one continent to another

Krasid:
Then explain to me how he has the most assists for his team this season.2 behind messi in the league, and one behind Messi in the UCL since he spends his time in the 18 yard box.What happened to Messi last season when Ronaldo had more goals and more assists than him in the UCL and Barca went trophyless?

seconded, u re so on point.