To have a complete visualization of Ronaldo's passion you have to think about the greatest people ever in their fields loosing their minds over every little win or loss.
You have to imagine a guy like Tom Brady crying or going crazy over losing a trophy even though he hs won it all a hundred times and more. You have to imagine Michael Jackson losing his mind over not winning a Grammy notwithstanding all the grammies he has. You have to imagine Al Pacino, Shakespeare, Raphael Nadal, Michael Phelps, Tiger Woods: all the greats! You have to imagine them losing sleep over losing a competition even though they have won it all over and over again and there's no doubt about their legacy.
Cristiano Ronaldo is at least the second best football player to ever live, he is a Premier League legend, La Liga legend, Serie A legend, International football legend, Champions League legend. He has 34 trophies, more goals than any player ever with: 938 goals, yet he is still so passionate about the game as if he is a 17 year old trying to make a name.
He still cries when he loses, throw tantrums when things don't go in his favour, and celebrates his goals and wins like it's the very first time for him.
Watching him in the UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE final last night had me pondering about his passion all over again. This guy looked clearly sad and worried when his team was trying to get through the extra time. During the penalties he couldn't even look, he was always burying his head behind a teammate and only looking up when it was over.
Like dude, you've won it all, what is this?
It is really impressive and fun to watch, though, but here is my theory:
This guy's passion is majorly sponsored by Messi. He more than anything wants to be better than Messi or have better numbers than Messi
I think so because:
• He wasn't so much of a goal scorer until the rivalry between himself and Messi. I think he realized he couldn't dribble as well as Messi or do any of the superhuman things Messi does so he decided to focus on goals, one aspect where he has a chance. All these happened when he was in the La Liga and he hasn't stopped since then.
• He was regarded as the best player in the world before Messi showed up. I think he didn't want his spot taken so brazenly and he has been working hard ever since to keep up.
• The Internet and journalists have pitched those two (Messi and Ronaldo), and both of them have separate fanbases that are always arguing and fighting online, and I think Ronaldo has seen all these and he is like one of his fans now, and if you know how his fans behave you'll know what I'm talking about. His fans are always trying to grasp at straws. Trying to find whatever little record they can to deny Messi the best player ever status. They'll talk about the goals Ronaldo has scored, and even though Messi had a lot of club trophies they started to make him look like a guy who doesn't win trophies simply because he didn't have trophies with his national team. That was until he started winning national trophies.
So I think Ronaldo himself is also trying to grasp at straws, trying to get every single little win ge can just to portray himself in a better light.
Furthermore, Ronaldo knowing about the rivalry and the different fanbases, I think he got too invested in it, and I think it got more painful and he felt he really had to stack up whatever records he can because he was losing to Messi so badly! Messi was winning more trophies, more balon dor (Best player of the year) awards and Ronaldo fans were languishing and losing the arguments too badly. This seems like it is Ronaldo's major fuel, to give his fans something whenever he can and that is why he is so invested in every tournament or match he plays.
Kinda messed up theory to have about a legend like Ronaldo, but it's just a theory, guys. LOL. It might be right, it might be wrong. And guess what? I'm a Ronaldo fan. LOL. I love Ronaldo more than I do Messi, but I know who is better and I'm the kinda guy that sees through my idols. Loving someone doesn't mean you can't be objective, you can be objective and still go on to love them regardless 😅.
The End
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