Ronaldo standards

Watching the Portugal v Slovenia match I noticed that an awful lot of the talk was around Cristiano Ronaldo.

The fact that he hadn’t scored yet in the tournament. The fact that he was taking the free kicks and not scoring them. The fact that he took a penalty and didn’t score. Coupled with speculation about his massive ego and the demands he has been making around team selection.

Compare that to the Holland v Romania game where the Dutch strikers got more and easier goal chances than Ronaldo and were afforded a much more compassionate narrative both from the commentators and the pundits.

I think being considered the best in the world means everyone holds you to a higher standard and is quicker to jump in and point out when you’re insufficient. Then throw in a negative narrative around Ronaldo’s arrogance and people are practically queueing up to slate him.

I think if our life was on the line and we were being fair and honest, we would pick the player with the best chance of scoring to take the penalty/free kick that saves our life, regardless of perceived ego.