#360view: Ronaldo's striking new position is biggest 2016 story

Andy West 08:44 14/12/2016
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  • Use #360view to have your say on Ronaldo's new position.

    Amid all the recent fuss over the Ballon d’Or, something far more significant about Cristiano Ronaldo has been largely overlooked.

    Throughout his career, the Portugal goal machine has essentially been a winger. He played on both flanks at Manchester United, and has been more or less permanently stationed on the left since joining Real Madrid in 2009.

    Of course, he has always been given plenty of freedom to cut inside to unleash his missile-like shots – you don’t become Real Madrid’s leading scorer by staying on the touchline – but his starting position within his team’s shape has been on the flank.

    But in the last few weeks that has changed, and it appears we are now moving into a new phase of Ronaldo’s career, which will quite probably see him spend his remaining days as a fairly traditional centre forward.

    The big change came in last month’s Madrid derby, when Zinedine Zidane veered away from his previous preference for a 4-3-3 formation by fielding a 4-4-2.

    With Karim Benzema on the bench, Ronaldo played at the point of the attack, receiving central support from Isco, while Gareth Bale went over to Ronaldo’s old position on the left wing and Lucas Vazquez was selected on the right.

    It worked perfectly, with Madrid delivering easily their best performance under Zidane to totally dominate their local rivals, earning a deserved 3-0 victory as Ronaldo blasted a hat-trick.

    Since then, although the personnel around him have changed, Ronaldo’s position has stayed the same.

    It hasn’t always been as successful, with Ronaldo and the rest of his team-mates offering a largely subdued display in the Clasico trip to Barcelona and later squandering several chances to defeat Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League group decider.

    But with Zidane’s faith in Benzema appearing to be on the wane, every indication so far is that the transition is permanent and that Ronaldo’s time as a winger is over.

    It makes perfect sense, too. Ronaldo does not pose the same kind of threat on the counter-attack as he used to, partly because he has lost a yard or two of pace and partly because Zidane places a greater emphasis on possession football.

    Looking forward, it’s unrealistic to expect Ronaldo to advance through his thirties playing as a winger – the defensive demands of the position are too great, and the inevitable decline of his physical qualities would eventually become a liability in that role.

    Ronaldo has claimed he wants to play until he is 40, and as a centre forward there is every reason to believe he’ll be successful in that ambition.

    He lives for scoring goals, and leading the line will therefore allow him to spend as much time as possible in the part of the pitch where he really comes alive: within shooting distance of the goal.

    Ronaldo’s transition from flying winger to penalty box predator has not been instantaneous – Carlo Ancelotti, with Zidane as his assistant, experimented with it a couple of years ago.

    But now it seems to be more permanent, and the remainder of the current season will be dominated by the question of whether Ronaldo Phase Two can lead Madrid to their first league title since 2012.

    Forget a shiny magazine award – the end of Cristiano Ronaldo’s 2016 has really been about a new playing position.

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