Cristiano Ronaldo » Barclay’s Premier League

Just A Picture: Happy Birthday Nani

Ale — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:50:49 +0000

Just outside the shot: at least 5 hookers.

The Ballon d’Or: Ronaldo or Messi?

Ale — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 22:48:13 +0000

Thierry Henry’s verbal fellating of Lionel Messi got me thinking… does Ronaldo really deserve the Ballon d’Or this year? I figured he had it locked down, but I decided to check out some numbers:

Ronaldo GP G A
07/08 46 42 9
08/09 28 16 19

His 86 points scored over 74 games equals 1.16 points per game.

Messi GP G A
07/08 33 16 26
08/09 15 12 27

His 81 points scored over 48 games equals 1.69 points per game.

Just for fun let’s throw Torres in there…

Torres GP G A
07/08 41 30 4
08/09 22 9 9

His 52 points scored over 63 games equals 0.81 points per game.

Now let’s look at some positives and negatives for each player:

Ronaldo
+ Scored 42 goals last season.
+ Won the Champion’s League.
+ Won almost every other award you can think of last year.
+ Manchester United finished first in the Premier League in 07/08.
- Manchester United is in danger of falling out of title contention in 08/09.
- Disappeared at Euro 2008.
- Not a great personal start to the 08/09 season.

Messi
+ Scores a half a point per game more than Ronaldo.
+ Great “team” player.
+ Won gold at the 2008 Olympics.
+ Barcelona is in first place in La Liga in 08/09.
- Barcelona finished third in La Liga in 07/08.
- Barcelona lost to Manchester United in the Champion’s League semi-finals.
- No hardware last year.

Torres
+ Instantly made an impact in the Premier League.
+ All 30 of his goals in 07/08 were scored during open play.
+ Won Euro 2008 with Spain, scored deciding goal in the final.
+ Liverpool is tied for first place in the Premier League in 08/09.
- Liverpool finished fourth last season.
- Liverpool lost to Chelsea in the Champion’s League semi-finals.
- No hardware last year.

So after thinking about each player’s accomplishments last season, I realized that all three of them won a competition involving multiple countries, and each of them also stood out in separate ways individually. Ronaldo had an incredible goal haul, Messi surely assisted every goal scored for Barcelona that was not scored BY him, and Torres outdid everyone’s expectations for his first year during the run of play alone.

Back to the point of this post… who do YOU think deserves it the most?

Just A Picture: Ronaldo Has A Major Fan In Indonesia…

Ale — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:55:07 +0000

Ronaldo Wins Again, Ignores Sir Alex

Ale — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:07:58 +0000

Ronaldo picked up a few more awards to add to his insane trophy haul from last season by being named both the European Club Player of the Year, as well as European Club Forward of the Year in Monaco earlier today.

“I think Manchester had a great season and I scored many goals.

“To win this award is great for me, I feel very proud, very good, to win this, because the Champions League is one of the best. Every player likes to play this competition and to be the best.”

“I feel very proud because my position is winger and to win the best forward is good for me, it gives me ambition to work good and better. Thank you everyone who voted for me, thank you to my team-mates, and good night.”

In case anyone didn’t hear his big ‘fuck you’ to Sir Alex the first time, he made sure to thank everyone-else-in-the-room-except-his-manager-who-was-sitting-directly-in-front-of-him again:

“For me, is great, thank you everyone, thank you my team-mates, thank you to everyone, to all the players, ~~prostitutes~~, it’s great, it’s good for me, I feel very happy.”

Still a little bitter about not getting his ‘dream’ move to Madrid maybe?

Also, Petr Cech, John Terry, And Frank Lampard got some nice consolation prizes to put next to their loser’s medals by winning European Club Goalkeeper, Defender, and Midfielder of the Year respectively.

New CL Threads

Ale — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:52:19 +0000

Ronaldo and ~~Franck Ribéry~~ Gary Neville model United’s new Champion’s League away kit, which commemorates the 40th anniversary of their (and English football’s) first European Cup victory when they beat Portugal’s Benfica 4-1 in extra time.

Ronaldo:

“The new kit is beautiful. I like all the United kits – but the home kit is my favourite because we won the Premier League and Champions League in it, so it was lucky. But it’s great to put a shirt on that remembers a great team.”

~~Ribéry~~ Neville:

“I like the traditional kits. We should wear kits that represent the history of the club and this one certainly does that.

You’ll think about that night and that team when you wear this, particularly with the date embroidered around the badge.

And the fans will love it as well”

One Of These Things Is Not Like The Others

Ale — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 05:28:17 +0000

Ronaldo obviously missed the day the United ties were handed out…

It’s Finally Over

Ale — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 22:28:44 +0000

Following a brief meeting with Sir Alex, Ronaldo has finally put an end to the summer-long transfer saga in an interview with Portuguese newspaper Publico to be published tomorrow.

Ronaldo said: ‘Sir Alex Ferguson heard my arguments, I heard his and, in fact, it was settled that the best for both parties would be for me to stay.

‘Therefore, I can confirm that, next season, I will play for Manchester United.

‘Before rumours emerge saying that I will play against my will, I want to make this clear – whoever says or writes that is lying.

‘I will play for Manchester with all my heart and soul. I will fight and honour that shirt with the same commitment and dedication as always.’

Ronaldo has also taken the blame for the transfer saga, which lasted for several months and damaged United’s relationship with Real.

He continued: ‘I was responsible for all this controversy.

‘I was the one who publicly expressed my desire to go to Real Madrid. I ended up being, even involuntarily, responsible for the poor relationship between the two clubs.’

But he repeated that his dream of playing for Real remains and has not closed the door on a future move to the Spanish giants.

He explained: ‘I knew Real Madrid were interested in signing me and that they had allegedly made a very high offer to Manchester United.

‘My desire was, for some time, that Manchester had accepted my transfer to Madrid.

‘Saying otherwise would be to trick people and my own consciousness.’

This isn’t much of a surprise to anyone probably, considering he’s under contract and Real buying Van Der Vaart, but I’m glad it’s over with.

Do you think he’ll feel a fan backlash similar to Adebayor’s situation with Arsenal or is he too important to United for the fans to turn against him?

via Soccernet

One Step Closer

Ale — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 23:24:32 +0000

My favorite player wants to join my favorite club? Seriously?

Just about every football news source is running the story in one form or another but we’ll go with Soccernet.

“

Terra claim to have carried out an exclusive interview with the Portugal international in which he said: ‘I would like to play for Real Madrid but only if it is true they are ready to pay what Manchester United ask of them.

‘However, it does not depend on me.’

The interview continued with Ronaldo stating his hope that the announcement would bring closure to the speculation linking him with a possible move to the Bernabeu.

He added: ‘From today I’m not going to talk about this topic with anyone at all.

‘I’ll only talk about this again after the European Championships. Don’t ask me any questions because I won’t answer.’

”
Sir Alex Ferguson had planned on visiting Portugal’s Euro 2008 training ground to convince Ronaldo to stay, but apparently Red Jesus ended that before it could begin.

“

Cristiano Ronaldo’s faltering relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson appeared to deteriorate further yesterday when the Portugal winger effectively banned the Manchester United manager from visiting their European Championship training camp. In an embarrassing snub, Ronaldo has told team-mates that Ferguson is not welcome in Switzerland, bringing a premature end to proposals for peace talks that surfaced in the light of his continued flirtation with Real Madrid.

Ferguson had reservations about travelling to the university town of Neuchâtel in any case, with the United manager reluctant to show his concern at Real’s interest and uneasy about intruding into the sphere of Luiz Felipe Scolari, the Portugal coach, but Ronaldo’s stance has brought an end to the matter.

The 23-year-old’s intransigence springs from anger at Ferguson’s comments last weekend that the Glazer family would rather see him sit in the stands than sell him to Real, which he believes were disrespectful. Ronaldo is understood to be furious at this perceived slight, but Ferguson was merely responding to the player’s frequent expressions of admiration for Real.

”
If Ferguson isn’t angry enough about all of this, ex United/current Madrid striker Ruud van Nistelrooy gave his 2 cents about all this drama.

“

He’d be an important signing for Madrid because this is a club which signs the best players in the world, and that’s what Cristiano is,” Van Nistelrooy said. “Cristiano could bring a lot of things to this club. He’s young and has everything. For Madrid he would be a great signing.

”

This just keeps getting better and better.

The Hell With The Glazers

Ale — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 18:04:40 +0000

My girlfriend and I are going to visit family in Pittsburgh so there won’t be much, if any, posting over the next 2 weeks so til then, ciao!

via ESPN Soccernet:
Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo has confirmed he will make an announcement on his future plans in the next ‘two to three days’.

Ronaldo has been heavily linked with a move to Real Madrid in recent weeks although United are determined to hold on to their prize asset and have even threatened to report the Spanish champions to FIFA over what they claim are attempts to unsettle him.

The 23-year-old is hoping an announcement will end the speculation.

Speaking after Portugal’s 2-0 win over Georgia, Ronaldo told A Bola: ‘Let’s see, I hope there will be news soon. In two to three days I will announce my decision.’

If he decides his future lies away from Old Trafford, Ronaldo would have a fight on his hands to secure a transfer to the Bernabeu.

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson on Sunday claimed the Glazer family, the club’s owners, would rather keep the player even if a hypothetical situation arose where he refused to play for the Red Devils.

The Scot said: ‘I’ve had a couple of meetings with the Glazers.

‘Their attitude is, ‘to hell with them’. They’d sit a player in the stand, I’m telling you, absolutely no doubt about it, just to prove a point. Not to give in to these people.

‘They’ve got balls, I can tell you. I’ve been delighted with them in that respect.’

The Glazers took over United in an £800million deal in the summer of 2005. Their arrival caused huge ructions among fans due to the debt they placed on the club.

Ferguson, however, has been delighted with the support of the Americans since their regime began.

‘They’ve been good to this club, believe me,’ he added. ‘They have been brilliant owners.’

Top 5 Free Kicks 2007/2008

Ale — Sun, 25 May 2008 22:50:12 +0000