When it comes to football betting, and despite seemingly never-ending announcements of his impending decline, never bet against a Ronaldo who is in great shape.
From his first footballing steps at Sporting, to his glorious days with Manchester United, to his exploits with Real Madrid, to his ongoing feats of mastery at Juventus, the Portuguese international has proven absolutely uncontainable. Whenever you think Ronaldo may be finished, he gets a new haircut, walks onto the pitch, races towards his opponent’s goal and tells the world that he is far from done – as only he can do.
Heading into the match with SPAL last week, Ronaldo had scored in 10 consecutive Serie A games and was just one goal shy of equalling the record for most goals scored in consecutive matches in Italy’s top division. Having set and broken and reset records in England, Spain and Portugal, it was only a matter of time before Italy began get a taste of the striker’s obsession for excellence.
And of course, the 35-year-old Ronaldo duly opened the scoring for the Bianconeri 39 minutes into the clash. The strike saw CR7 bring his goal tally in Italy to 42, joining Rui Costa as the highest Portuguese goal-scorer in the Italian league.
The goal machine will be looking to extend his incredible current form in front of goal when his team lock horns with title rivals Inter Milan later this week. Should he manage to find the back of the net on Sunday, he will leave Gabriel Batistuta and Fabio Quagliarella, who share the record with him at the moment, in his wake.
But what does this do for Portuguese football?
Ronaldo’s career has arguably done more than anything else to rubber-stamp the nation’s claim on calling itself one the truly great football nations on the planet. Portugal’s national team had never before enjoyed such a sustained period of success as during the time Ronaldo has worn the Seleção shirt. Coincidence? Portugal made a huge splash at the 1966 World Cup, and fired by the aforementioned Rui Costa, along with Luís Figo and other members of the famed golden generation, enjoyed a level of success at the turn of the millennium.
But true consolidation came in the form of numerous deep runs in the world’s most important national competitions, at Euro 2004, World Cup 2006, Euro 2012 and the culmination of this success in 2016. Ronaldo led the Seleção to glory at the European Championship in France four years ago, putting Portugal on a pedestal it had threatened to reach several times but had always fallen short.
Needless to say, the achievements of a small country in the world’s most popular sport has had positive collateral effects, helping capture the attention of travellers, tourists and more. Go to any country in the world and ask them what they know about Portugal, and there is a good chance the answer will mention football in general, and Cristiano Ronaldo in particular.
A win for Ronaldo is a win for Portugal – that is how this logic plays out. While Ronaldo’s eternal rival Lionel Messi comes from Argentina, a team whose football exploits had already been popularised by the legendary Maradona, and World Cup triumphs past, Ronaldo did not enjoy the same privilege. Eusébio, Mário Coluna, Deco, Ricardo Carvalho, Rui Costa and Luís Figo may litter the list of all-time greats for Portugal but it was that critical Euro 2016 triumph, the subsequent Nations League triumph of 2018, and in many ways, the consistent record-setting efforts of Ronaldo that has kept Portuguese football at the top of the agenda in the game.
How Ronaldo’s dominance can help Portuguese football in the future
At 99 goals for Portugal, Ronaldo is number two on the list of footballers with the highest number of goals for their country. Only Ali Daei of Iran stands in front of him with a staggering tally of 109 goals. And while we may need betting tips to correctly predict the outcomes of football matches, we do not need it to know that Ali’s record will be matched or eclipsed in the next 1-2 years so long as Ronaldo steers clear of injury. No tip or hack or prophecy is required to forecast this.
Ronaldo has stated he intends to play until he reaches 40. Given the obsessive care he takes as regards his physical and mental conditioning, it is safe to assume he will do so. His countryman Quaresma will be 37 in September, Swedish maestro Zlatan Ibrahimovic will be 39 in October and both are still going strong on the pitch! The difference being that Ronaldo is still performing at the very highest level, as the most important player of a club that has legitimate aspirations to lift the Champions League.
In June, Euro 2020 begins and Portugal have a chance to add more glory to their conquest of four years ago by defending their trophy in the pan-European tournament. And given that Ronaldo remains both the biggest name in the team and the deadliest forward on the continent, the Seleção are among the favourites to triumph in the summer. Then there will be more Nations League tournaments and a World Cup in 2022; each an opportunity for Ronaldo to further embellish his legendary status and cement Portugal’s place as one of the world’s great footballing countries.
