When was Cristiano Ronaldo in his Prime?

[Music] thank you a heartbreaking World Cup exit public Fallout with Manchester United and stepped down to the Saudi pro league Cristiano Ronaldo's past few months are very much the low light of a storied career that the world of football will never forget two decades in the spotlight the man who came from the humble beginnings of Madeira went on to become a luminary for Millions across the globe dominating the highest stage alongside his amicable adversary Lionel Messi maybe the game's ultimate mega star the Portuguese forward amassed unfathomable Fame and Fortune reaching the peak of celebrity but

it's never led him astray always preaching the good word of hard work with a Relentless dedication to his craft much like Pele who went to New York for his last two playing years cr7's recent agreement with al-nasir suggests his time on the pitch is drawing to a close as the European demand for the 38 year old has hit an all-time low currently Midway through his 21st League campaign he is best known for his trophy Laden seasons in England and Spain but where and when did he play his best football breaking into sporting Lisbon's first team

in 2002 the team was a substitute for most of his debut year but always showed glimpses of Daring Brilliance down the Left Flank particularly in the summer of the following year when they met Manchester United for a meaningless friendly the English Champions were stunned by the tricky Pacey and direct youngster who saw this as a chance to impress which he did catching the eye of Sir Alex Ferguson who went on to drop over 12 million pounds for the services of a hugely exciting player having only been a pro for a year the 18 year old

was flown to the north of England as the fresh prospects of a European Juggernaut and after a superb debut the hype built yet it became clear that in order to fulfill his Rich potential and thrive in the Premier League certain aspects of his game had to evolve six goals in his first year while used half the time from Off the Bench was a strong start however criticism came his way for the use of elaborate and unnecessary skills which was less accepted in that era of English football still the season ended well for the Starlet hitting

the opener into millwall's net on route to his first piece of British silverware the 2004 FA Cup giving Ronaldo a taste of what he could achieve at United signs of development were seen in the latter half of his second year bagging eight goals between January and may with particularly impressive showings against Newcastle in the cup and Arsenal's invincibles [Applause] still deployed out wide he was a traditional Winger using his lightning pace and Agility to spin fullbacks but enjoyed dropping deeper to receive the ball and Carry It Forward helping the team move more fluidly in the

attack with rude van nistelroy as the target man both he and a fresh-faced Wayne Rooney were expected to provide for the number 10 and Ronaldo was an accurate Crosser on either foot racking up seven assists across the mounts though consistency was The prominent issue teammates such as Gary Neville have described Cristiano as talented but frustrating during his initial years in Manchester and despite him proving he would occasionally play selfishly and Showboat which famously annoyed the Dutch Marksman though he had a game performed well throughout [Applause] in 0506 a handful of incidents hinted that he also

needed to mature especially in that summer when featuring in his first World Cup while facing the Three Lions in The Knockouts Ronaldo had prompted the referee to send off Rooney causing English uproar if you just wink there and upon the number seven's return to Old Trafford he faced A Chorus of booze and ironically it was in this season when the Winger found his best form yet thanks to Renee mullenstein's inspired coaching during a sabbatical-like isolated training period the Dutchman had Cristiano's entire Focus so that through unique drills the Portuguese Troublemaker could become more practical as

a result of muleenstein's two cents Ronaldo returned to the pitch more concerned with the quantity of his goals than the quality and therefore he became a better teammate parting more frequently and running off the ball more cleverly instead of attempting a ridiculous long shot or unlikely slaloming run CR7 looked to get in the Box for the assured finish and thus he achieved his best stats so far converting over 20 across all competitions including three consecutive League braces with 14 assists as well to boast something had changed after the summer he seemed more determined to win

and were quite often step up in the important matches winning his first two League player of the month Awards back to back at the end of 2006 as Manchester United reclaimed the top spot European success remained elusive yet after four years in England the improved trickster was able to get his hands on the coveted premier league title and having proved pivotal for the Reds as their top scorer Ronaldo picked up eight individual awards for his efforts across the year what was also clear by this time was Ronaldo's physical development arriving in O3 a wiry Speedster

he was now a muscular athlete with strong running legs broader shoulders to hold off opponents and a significantly improved jump while standing a six foot one irrepressible in this period he and United's coaches had formulated a supreme specimen whose physique and goal scoring aptitude was wasted in the midfields and therefore Ferguson combined Rooney Ronaldo and their new arrival Carlos teves to form one of the division's most lethal front lines the trio were breathtaking at times during the 0708 season remarkably skillful while also aggressive and tenacious thriving on the counter-attack due to their pace and understanding

Rooney and Tevis would interchange positionally throughout matches and helped out defensively allowing the more centralized number seven to stay high as he was the danger man able to win a game on his own the Scots focus on Ronaldo was rewarded as he produced an amazing output of 31 goals in the BPL able to score every type of goal his training ground practice had made him a set piece specialist who was reliable from penalties and capable of dropping Jaws when standing over a free kick [Applause] pursued by Chelsea relentlessly throughout the season it was a two-point

Surplus that separated them as United went back to back but their battle with the blues wasn't over because in Moscow the teams would meet again for the first ever all English Champions League final Cristiano's domestic form had bled across into Europe bagging seven goals on the road to Russia often in the center forward roll and back on the wing for the final he stole the advantage penalties were left to separate them and it looked dire when he missed United's third but Terry's Infamous slit and vanessaar's decisive save put Manu back on the throne of the

continent handing Ronaldo the final Club trophy he was missing it had been a tense end to an elite campaign of a star-studded team maybe United's greatest side to date with world-class players sprinkled throughout the 11. picking up the European golden shoe for scoring 42 goals the most across all major leagues and labeled the player of the season for both the Prem and UCL he was quite simply the best player on the planet certified in December 2008 receiving the most votes for FIFA's Ballon d'Or and World Player of the Year Awards into 200809 he underwent ankle

surgery leaving him out of action for over two months before picking up where he left off brushing teams aside in devastating fashion as the Champions retained the title once more a three-peat looking to also make it a UCL double Ronaldo was critical to United's European run striking the tiebreaker past his former adversary Porto and claiming the puss guess award in the process his double in their triumph over Arsenal guided the Reds through to the final yet again where he met guardiola's Barcelona and their special number 10 whose lobbing header sealed the deal for the catalans

kicking off their rivalry having established himself amongst the elite with 145 goals and nine trophies from six seasons in England Ronaldo was ready for a move answering the cause of President Florentino Perez who set a world record transfer fee in the summer of 2009 with 94 million euros to make him a front man of Real's second galacticos [Applause] sporting the nine in the famed white shirt he and Kaka shared the immeasurable hype surrounding the Bernabeu by the season's start but Ronaldo was the one to make an instant impact by converting five goals from the opening

four La Liga matches and burying braces in the first two UCL games flourishing under the pressure Manuel Pellegrini favored Cristiano as a striker into the new year restricting his freedom but boosting his chances and the forward added 19 to his scoring tally after Christmas the contest ended in favor of the blograna leaving Los Blancos trophyllis despite the excessive expenditure fellow Countryman Jose Mourinho stepped in for the Chilean and Club Legend Raul retired handing Ronaldo the seven which reinvigorated him as he embarked on his most prolific year yet netting 40 times in the league to win

the Spanish petition award and Golden Shoe again with 53 across all competitions for the second year in a row real with the highest scoring team in La Liga yet a constant thought in their side Barcelona pillaged the title and barged them out of Europe leaving Madrid with the 2011 Copa del Rey in which CR7 headed home the winner go Cristiano Ronaldo adding the first Spanish silverware to his cabinet 11 12 saw the end to boss's reign in what the media dubbed the league of the records as real scored 121 goals in the nine months and

broke the hundred points barrier to secure their 32nd La Liga title and as for CR7 his 60 goals that year helped him break puskas's record as the fastest player in the club's history to reach a century of goals for Los Blancos oh my goodness the team under Jose ideally suited him with the emphasis on attacking at speed and especially on the counter the 27 year old was hugely effective when another personally superb but collectively lackluster year for the club came to an end Carlo angelotti took his first steps in Spain ready to build his team

around the master Marksman who had Illustrated under Mourinho that he could achieve the top stats even from out wide the Italian gave him this freedom on the left side in a 4-3-3 formation while carrying Benzema and 100 million euro new boy Gareth Bale took up the Central and right roles respectively completing what the media called BBC Benzema Bale Cristiano in the same vein as his Manchester partnership the trio proved their worth accumulating 97 goals in 1314 as real thought on all three fronts for the Continental treble determined to get his hands on the big ears

yet again Ronaldo amassed an outstanding record tally of 17 UCL goals from 11 games that campaign including a penalty versus athlete in the all-spanish final which ended 4-1 after extra time making Real Madrid the first side to ever win 10 European cups La Decima after Messi's four-year run Ronaldo reclaimed the Ballon d'Or for 2013 ending the year with 69 goals in 59 appearances before getting it again the ensuing year Midway through the 1415 season by the end of which he had again eclipsed himself 48 goals from 35 League games setting a new personal best of

61 goals in all that year that's wonderful as Ronaldo entered his 30s he adapted his style and became less of a runner averaging fewer kilometers traveled per game as a way of preserving himself while aging less involved in the build-up he was left to do what he does best score goals gradually moving inwards from the wing and higher up the pitch often their most advanced man averaging a goal a game in this three-year period the number seven was part of a legendary outfit who became the first and only team of the Champions League era to

win three titles in a row 2016 2017 and 2018. the first to ever appear on the scoresheet in three separate finals Ronaldo became the all-time top scorer in the UCL and overtook Jimmy Greaves as the most prolific in the top five European leagues spending six straight Seasons at the peak of the Champions League scoring charts he also lifted his fourth and fifth Golden Balls back to back equaling Messi's total in eight dream worthy Seasons at the Bernabeu Ronaldo have won La Liga twice the Copa del Rey and super cup a couple of times each the

club World Cup three times and the champions league on no less than four occasions in one of the world's most competitive divisions he achieved a positive goal to game ratio winning three patrici's and golden shoes each to establish himself as one of the very best to ever play the game accomplishing quite literally everything with Royale it was time to move on venturing into a new country as the most expensive ever transfer to an Italian team putting pen to paper for Juventus Siri asthma successful Club desperate for the big ears the serial winners had lost three

finals since last victorious in 96 and the addition of Ronaldo was Andrea and yelly's ambitious effort to return the cup to Turin the Portuguese attacker played in a variety of roles under allegri throughout his debut year dividing his time between the number nine role that he'd taken up since 2017 and his original spot on the left of the front three allotted the prerogative to drop deep go wide or switch sides in game Cristiano adjusted well producing game-winning goals across the months to shine for the bianconeri as the continued domestic dominance with an eighth consecutive scaretto

with 21 Syria goals he was juve's leading scorer and despite adding another sixth his absurd Champions League tally included in which was an exceptional hat-trick to narrowly overcome Atletico the Italians fell short dropping out to an admirable but beatable young IX side unfortunately this summarizes the Winger's stint in the black and white successful but not in the way intended awarded the couple canoniere for stacking up over 30 goals in the following two campaigns some of which were expectedly outstanding his time in Turin was marred by the European shortcomings slipping up in 2020 to Leon a

game in which he scored and to Porto in the next campaign for which he undeservedly bought the brunt of the blame the truth is that you they were unable to recruit wisely around their Marquee man steadily declining from 2018 to 2021 when they ultimately conceded the scaletto under Piolo a first-time manager approaching his mid-30s he slotted away over 100 goals in three years for Juventus and was far from a disaster but nonetheless was built as a flop by many and after flirting with a move to their sky blue enemies he made a romantic return to

Manchester United in the summer of 2021 his homecoming was widely publicized with shirt sales inside the first day breaking the record and things couldn't have started better putting a pair past Newcastle on his Second Debut and saving the team on multiple occasions in the Champions League to escape a tough group former teammate olly Gunna salcia was dismissed as manager mid-season to be replaced by Ralph raniak as interim and reportedly relations between the German sporting director and Ronaldo quickly turned fractious causing the number sevens drop in form enduring a two-month dry spell the 37 year old

bounced back and concluded the campaign well with nine goals from his final seven appearances taking his tally to 24 in all the most for the struggling Club in 2122 nevertheless he and the club faced major criticism for finishing sixth in the Prem and going trophyless for a fifth year in a row Ronaldo's first time doing so in over a decade after much anticipation Eric tenahog was appointed and believing Ronaldo wasn't the right man for his system the Dutchman benched him for most of the domestic games as the season got underway wanting to leave Old Trafford

permanently he struggled to secure a move away due to expensive wage demands and chose to vent his frustrations in mid-november to Piers Morgan the interview went Mega viral and United terminated his contract within a week granting his wish just a few days into the 2022 Qatar World Cup a month after their shot quarterfinal exit to Morocco Ronaldo's agreement with Al Nasir makes his salary the biggest ever in football history bucketing 200 million euros annually from the deal the so-called Prime of CR7 is debatable as he spent over 15 years world class registering a magnificent output

almost every year from 2006 to 2021 but statistically peaked in Real Madrid when more of an out and out forward however numbers alone do not Define a player like Ronaldo I see it the Portuguese virtuoso had different types of primes across his amazing career the dribbling Prime was seen between 2003 and 06. the early Manchester years when a pure Winger who wanted to beat a man with Street skills and wasn't relied on for goals still needing to learn the ropes of the Premier League next from 2007 to 2016 came the complete attacker Prime developing from

a selfish showboater to an all-rounder in the final third who was more obsessed with his stats than anything else making him a Serial winner in England and then Spain transformed into a goal scoring machine he excelled as an inverted left Winger under Mourinho and ancelotti demolishing teams on his own week in week out driven on by Messi this was Ronaldo at his most entertaining still a Swift dribbler with the skills of his younger self but more clinical as the stats show third and most recent was his poaching Prime witnessed in the latter couple of Madrid

years and Juventus seasons in zidane's team the number seven was the planet's best box player improving his positional sense and link up play as a central Striker yet it's subjective whether you loved seeing him spam the step-overs making the Premier League his personal playground or breaking every imaginable real record as the star of the Bernabeu Cristiano Ronaldo has been A Step Above whenever or wherever he trod on the pitch and is one of the few to have etched his name permanently in the history book of the beautiful game what was your favorite era of CR7

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