“Special players are maybe worth that. I agree with that. When you are good, when you are a special player, you are more expensive than the other ones. That’s normal.
“It’s like cars. Some cars are better than others, that’s why they’re more expensive. It’s the same with players. But this is only my opinion.”
And almost right on cue, the Man United star struck for a brace against West Bromwich Albion the very next day. So goes the life of Cristiano Ronaldo, who just recently added the FIFA World Player of the Year to a collection that is quickly becoming more valuable than the Louvre Museum's. It has recently been said, however, that all the stardom was catching up with Ronaldo, who has looked out of form for a while. Obviously, trying to match last years tally of 42 goals would be a big ask, even for the man himself, but his comparatively slow first half of the season was beginning to worry the United faithful. I even heard from some Man U fans that they now wished United cashed in on Ronaldo and sold him to Real Madrid over the summer. Always one to prove his doubters wrong, the winker-turned-winger has shown signs of a return to the glorious form that saw him net .91 goals per game in the EPL last season.
"How do I rate last season? I can't say 10 out of 10, so nine. I can improve all the time. Ten is the maximum and I haven’t reached the maximum yet, so I’d give myself nine.
"This season I’d give myself eight out of 10. Some circumstances have gone against me, like at the start of the season when I was injured, but I don’t want to think about that."
With three goals in his last three games, it looks like Ronaldo has turned the corner. The cameo appearance against Championship side Derby in the Carling Cup seems to have done the trick. United Coach Mike Phelan claims that Ronaldo was brought on to restore his confidence (something that must have been aching after he crashed his two-day-old Ferrari into a Manchester tunnel wall), and the move paid off, as Ronaldo calmly scored a penalty in that game before finding the net twice again earlier today. The reasonable question to ask is why has this return to form taken so long? A definite factor is the early-season injury that Ronaldo reffered to in his quote above. Ankle injuries especially, often take a while to fully recover from, and the absence of Ronaldo's Bugatti-like speed in the early part of the season was obvious. Another possibility in that with the addition of Dimitar Berbatov to United's frontline. Ronaldo and company needed time to adapt to the style of the Bulgarian (coincidence that Ronaldo's good form coincides with Berba's recent run?). The movement and fluidity last season of Ronaldo, Rooney and Tevez seemed almost telepathic, something that was always going to take time to rebuild once a new player is introduced into the fray. Finally, it is my personal opinion that Ronaldo had become a victim of his own celebrity. The pressure placed on someone with as many accolades as Ronaldo has won after his performance last year (Ballon D'Or, FIFPro World Player of the Year, and FIFA World Player of the Year, to name a few), must be absolutely immense. Add that to Cristiano's well-documented personal desire for improvement, and you have many atmospheres of pressure on a lad who many forget is still only 23. It is therefore almost inevitable, that until Ronaldo came to terms with the fact that he would in all likelyhood NOT be able to repeat his heroics of last season, he would only find himself frustrated. In my humble opinion, while Ronaldo's skill has not improved tremendously this season, this campaign has actually been his most important in terms of maturation. Being mature, my friends, can be just as vital to footballing success as being skilled.
"I’ll try to be as good as I was last season, but it’s hard."
"Winning is the most important thing. When you win, everything is good. Winning, scoring and beating defenders – that’s the order in which I like it.”
That's it Ronaldo! We will all be happy as long as you give it your all for the team. And recently, it appears as if he has been giving it his all, and I would not be surprised to see him and United continue their hot streaks for weeks to come.
Talking Point: United's absolutely ridiculously impressive record-breaking streak of not conceding a goal. Consider this, only Nemanja Vidic out of the first choice defense has played more than half of the 11-game 1,030-minute streak.
