The Media effect on Players: Cristiano Ronaldo

I'll start with my opening statement of , followed by a f*** off to any punk coming in here trolling with his flame-bait good, now I'll proceed.

How do great players handle the media? How does any professional athlete handle the public in such a mainstream era the world is in for nearly every aspect of their lives? Can players overcome not only the personal events of their life but the criticism of their peers, fans, and haters alike.

It's an interesting story soo far for Cristiano Ronaldo. Growing up in the humble city of Funchal, on the Portuguese island of Madeira a boy who just wanted to play futebol...to now being referred to as a 'narcissistic c***' amung many other words, by some of the Man Utd faithful and ever so caring haters. How did this happen? seems like just overnight he was a young hero for Portugal, to public enemy number one in England.

Ronaldo was 18 when he joined United from Sporting. He didn't ask for it, but he was given the number 7 anyways previously worn by Man Utd legends such as George Best, Eric Cantona, and David Beckham who before him was suffering from a love/hate relationship with the club...quite the large order the young Portuguese had taken. The Media for the next year had a field days with Ronaldo, praising his skill on the ball and potential, while criticizing his poor defensive game and occasional situations where he had dived. It seemed that the EPL fans were 50/50 on the matter, aswell as the media...Ronaldo wasn't doing much damage to the top teams in the league and was still young so the antics hadn't much effect overall.

Then the Euro 2004 came along. Ronaldo playing for Portugal in Portugal, and having himself a brilliant tournament against some of the best nations in the world, his potential was showing off...until, Portugal faced England. Ronaldo being practically our only highlight player from the EPL playing against England, demolishing Ashley Cole and furthering the amount of fuel being tossed into the pit of fire that was to come, he put in a crucial penalty that in the end sent the English hopeful and their country home. Ronaldo was young, making it to the final of a European Championship with his country, playing in his countries capital, and not to mention coming from a small island where hopes and dreams were only spoken of in story-books...losing in the final must've broken his heart as he was one of Portugal's key attacking players in the tournament and final itself, his portrait was to be used as inspiration and as comical relief to follow.

From that point on, Ronaldo got the full force of the English Media. He could've scored two goals in one game, but if he dived that would be the topic of debate for the week to come. Cristiano continued doing what he was asked to do, attack the wings with pace, skill, flair, and trickery, put in a ball and carry on. He did just that while having 50 thousand people from the stands booing him every time he touched the ball or when his name was called, every time he played.

05/06 was when Ronaldo emerged as a great winger and one of the best players in the EPL. Instrumental in United's League Cup win over Wigan and putting in a MOTM performance, probably the pinnacle of his EPL season he also put in the goal of the year against Portsmouth. It wasn't all glamour for Cristiano as early on in the year he is accused of Sexual rape and taken to jail, being released by police bail shortly after. This was one story which fueled even more controversy and for the majority, dis-like, towards Ronaldo. Later that year, at the age of 21 Ronaldo loses his father...this would be the turning point of his form leading upto the World Cup and also resulted in Ruud van Nistelrooy's Man Utd departure after insults towards Cristiano's father.

The World Cup; stepping stone for any player's career. Ronaldo led Portugal through qualifying with some excellent performances in the latter part finishing as the second best nation in qualifying. Coming in, they had a relatively easy group...winning all 3 games against Angola, Iran, and Mexico, Portugal now faced the Dutch in the round of 16. The Dutch seemed to have one target, Ronaldo was recieving alot of pressure from their players...Khalid Bouldahrouz gave the Portuguese a major blow when he came leaping in with his studs up sinking his cleats into Cristiano's inner thigh, it was the end of the night (maybe the tournament?) for Ronaldo soon after. In one of the most controversial matches in decades, Portugal came out on top thanx to catalyst Maniche.

Portugal versus England. Was this an era where these two countries were building a fierce rivalry on the international stage? Ronaldo recovered his knock from the last game and came out flying in this match, the media had targeted him as being a whiner from the last game and the boo's were coming in full force from the English faithful in this match...Ronaldo was once again put on the spot, and that would be where he'd finish off the match: On the Spot. Rooney had come in with a challenge on Ricardo Carvalho after he stripped the ball from the English powerhouse, Wayne then took it upon himself to stomp on Carvalho's groin area which the referee had missed. Ronaldo rushed into the argument, saying only God knows what, Rooney shoved his Man Utd team mate out of the way in rage; He was sent off and Ronaldo gave the media one of the biggest stories of the summer..."the Wink".


Ronaldo put away the match in the penalty shoot-out as Portugal went on to face the team that they can never seem to beat, France. As for the match, Ronaldo was pretty much the best player on the pitch, he was a force and despite all of Portugal's trials, France came away in the end with a Zidane Penalty in the 33rd minute. The World Cup journey had ended for the young phenom and his country...4th place was the best the small Iberian nation could do.

A New season, one that would set up Ronaldo to be one of the best players in the world. His skills had clearly been sharpened over the past year, his tactical awareness had been instrumented perfectly, and his conifdence had been higher than ever...he was ready to take the world. In a season that saw him go 20+ goals and assists for the first time, he became United's guiding force in attack and their top scorer. The boo's and crowds rage were at their pinacle at this time for Ronaldo, he ousted England two consecutive times in International competition and he was running rampant in the EPL overtaking the dominant Thierry Henry as the leagues best player, competition came from players like Drogba & newcomer Berbatov, but it did little to unrattle the prolific winger. It seemed that he gained from the fan's negativity, he fed on it and got plump. Many a time being a match winner for United during the course of the season, he had taken United to their once previous high of winning the EPL title, the Champions league was what remained...not for this season, as they had been taken out by a brilliant AC Milan and Ricardo Kaka in the semi-finals.

The season to follow, Ronaldo would become the best player in the world. He would score 42 goals in 48 appearances for Man Utd, Win the Premier League Title and be named Player of the Season for a second consecutive season, Win the UEFA Champions League and put all the critics to bed by scoring from open play against the only team has yet to in England, while dominating top teams in the EPL and Europe...he had no mercy for those who had cruel claims of his ability. The Euro was the final test, and despite being a part of nearly every Portugal goal...the Luistana gave out in the quarter-finals. He accomplished all this from a Right Wing position and is the most prolific Winger in the history of the modern game during this past season. The Media and fans went as far as saying he bottles in big games, he only scores tap-ins, he still dives...but I say, only God can judge this player because no one is higher than him right now.


From being harrassed as a 19 year old by millions of fans, to being accused of Sexual rape, to having his own teammates disrespect his father's passing to calling him out in the media, to having one of the biggest transfer speculations between the two biggest clubs in the world this summer...he continues to become better and better on the pitch as a player, no one can deny him that.

Judge the man on the pitch...his personal life is meant to be personal for a reason