By his own design, Cristiano Ronaldo makes himself an obvious target for contempt.
His ‘look at me’ celebrations, the preening, the histrionics, the gigantic ego that eclipses all others in the modern game (which in 2014 is some achievement), on the eve of Monday’s match against Germany, he even declared: “I come first… soccer comes after that.”
There is also, of course, the fact that he is a pretty exceptional footballer. No matter the personality, the very best will always be ridiculed when things don’t go their way.
Consequently the German newspapers had a sizeable amount of fun in the wake of their comprehensive 4-0 defeat of the Portuguese in Salvador.
“Ron-NIL-do”, was the headline in Sport Bild which also photoshopped pictures of Thomas Muller, Joachim Low and Philipp Lahm onto his torso. Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo splashed with the headline “Lost Playboy”, Spain’s El Mundo Deportivo claimed he was “a shadow of himself”, while Portuguese daily Publico also noted: “CR kept himself well hidden.”
By Ronaldo’s own stratospheric standards, far beyond his contemporaries bar Lionel Messi, it was a pretty wretched performance.
Taking seven shots at goal, it wasn’t until deep in added time when he troubled Manuel Neuer as his dipping free-kick was batted away by the German keeper.
His influence on the game was virtually non-existent. He barked orders at his team-mates and when he didn’t get the service he tried to win the game on his own, shooting from all angles with little success.
When Mesut Ozil was put clean through on goal by Mario Gotze – only to be denied by Rui Patricio – it was a direct result of Ronaldo overplaying it on the half-way line.
He was, of course, not the only one within the Portuguese team imploding, as Pepe’s ridiculous sending off and some calamitous and haphazard defending meant they were never in the game.
However, while all the blame should not be levelled solely at Ronaldo’s feet – he was also returning from injury – his responsibility as captain and star player means he has more than a duty of care to ensure Portugal aren’t so hopeless.
Over the 90 minutes, of his teammates, right-back Joao Pereira, centre-back Bruno Alves, midfield duo Raul Meireles and Joao Moutinho and fellow forward Nani all touched the ball more than Ronaldo.
He completed just 21 passes while was dispossessed three times and gave the ball away twice. It was not a display befitting of a Ballon d’Or winner, but in a tournament where Neymar, Robin van Persie, Arjen Robben and Andrea Pirlo have all made a mark, no one will be more frustrated to have flopped than the most self-aware superstar of them all.
We won’t know the level of that frustration, however, until Ronaldo takes to the field against the USA on Saturday night. There will be no hiding place then.
