Since the Euro 2008 got over, there has been no decent, watchable football on television. It’s only been two weeks and I’m dying of ennui. What’s worse, the season doesn’t start till mid-August. To top that, there is no escaping Cristiano Ronaldo who’s making just the right noises to keep us media people in a tizzy. Any gobbledegook that he utters is becoming the biggest news of the day.
Would you believe it, now the poor sucker says he is being treated like a slave by Manchester United. Pah… If a slave gets paid £120,000 a week, drive BMWs and wear only diamonds, then I want to be a slave too.
His on-now, off-now deal with Real Madrid has even got the FIFA president interested. Sepp Blatter feels sorry for Ronaldo and empathises with the Portuguese for the torture he is being meted out by the devil incarnate Sir Alex Ferguson, who is just not willing to let go of the winger. On Wednesday, Blatter told Sky TV, “If the player wants to play somewhere else, then a solution should be found... I’m always in favour to protect the player and if the player wants to leave, let him leave. In football, there’s too much modern slavery, in transferring players or buying players here and there and putting them somewhere.”
Ronaldo, warming his bottoms in Portugal, didn’t miss out on the opportunity to create more controversy and chirped, “I completely agree with the FIFA president. The president is correct, but I do not want to say more.”
I am told his latest antics have made him the most hateful footballer in Manchester United’s history.
Till now the fans were giving him the benefit of doubt, obviously believing that Ronaldo loved Old Trafford as much as they did and that us media people, masters at ‘story-telling’, were circulating another one of our well-coordinated lies. But now that their ‘beloved’s’ comments are on tape and out in the open, they’ve realised they have been cheated on.
They want him out. Various Manchester United fan sites have had thousands of comments posted on how the ‘traitor’ should be kicked out.
This is not the first time Ronaldo has drawn such strong reactions. After the 2006 World Cup in Germany, he returned to England the most hated figure. Ronaldo had incited the referee to send Wayne Rooney off after the Englishman stamped on Portuguese defender Ricardo Carvalho during their quarterfinal. Ronaldo was then seen in replays winking to the Portuguese bench after Rooney’s dismissal.
Ronaldo received a lot of flak from the fans, even threats to his life and his effigies were burnt. But he turned that around with some inspired football.
This time, it’d be best if he tried to win loyalties elsewhere.
