But the thing about the cell phone really stuck in my mind. No player should treat a fan, opposing or not, like that, especially one of Ronaldo’s standing. Emotions are clear, even professional footballers aren’t machines, so I don’t think it’s that bad if a player misses a line on the pitch (e.g. Messi against Wout Weghorst or Ronaldo against South Korea), but it doesn’t work against fans. After that things went downhill with Ronaldo, it didn’t have to be, I think he blocked a lot with the Piers Morgan interview. I also think it’s a shame that such a career has to end like this, I would have actually wished that Ronaldo would stop at Sporting Lisbon in a few years, where it all started. But for that he would have had to admit that his time as a player at this level is coming to an end and he cannot necessarily show that insight. He did a lot to always be fit, gave up a lot, but unfortunately biology doesn’t stop at that either. At Sporting, it might even have been possible for him to be on the pitch with his son, Ronaldo jr. is 12 now, if he had made his debut at 16, which is not even that rare these days, Ronaldo would have had to play 4 more years. I don’t think Sporting would have refused him that favor. But well, these are also imaginations on my part, it didn’t happen that way.
I wish him all the best at Al-Nasr though. Whether you like him or not is anyone’s guess, but his impact on modern football cannot be dismissed out of hand. He and Messi were two great football careers, each in their own way. You can’t and don’t have to compare anything, both have had a really big impact on football independently of each other, I don’t attach much importance to the so-called “GOAT” debate.