Cristiano Ronaldo continued to make history earlier this week, being named Portuguese Player of the Year for the 10th time in his career.
Cristiano Ronaldo has won Portuguese Player Of The Year for a record 10th time! pic.twitter.com/dxldOfDDu0
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) September 3, 2019
The 34-year-old had a solid debut season at Juventus, helping the Turin side secure its eighth consecutive league title as well as the Supercoppa Italia. It’s hard to say that CR7 didn’t deserve the award; the man finished with elite numbers, notching 28 goals and 10 assists for Juve. But of all of Ronaldo’s seasons finishing with the award, I think this may be the year where it is easiest to plays devil’s advocate in the face of Ronaldo’s success and make the case there were players who deserved the award more.
Here are two reasons why.
Why Ronaldo Didn't Deserve Portuguese Player of the Year In 2019
The Dip
Believe it or not, Ronaldo actually had a comparatively down season compared to previous ones. Ronaldo’s 28 goals in 2018-19, while still the numbers of a world class striker, were the lowest goal tally he’s had since his final season at Manchester United a decade ago. In fact, even comparing the numbers to his previous season at Madrid, Ronaldo falls pretty far below the mark, finishing with 16 fewer goals than his 2017-18 campaign.
Ronaldo’s regression could be attributed to a variety of factors. For one, the man is 34 years old; it’s only natural Ronaldo’s numbers would begin to dip as he ages. Second, this was his first season at a new club and in a new league; it stand to reason there would be an adjustment period which could lead to a drop in production. Finally, the man was the absolute focal point of Real Madrid’s offense for a decade, and while he is certainly the largest name at Juventus, Massimiliano Allegri didn’t rely on CR7 as heavily as Zidane had over the past few seasons.
To be fair, just because Ronaldo regressed doesn’t necessarily mean that he doesn’t deserve the award. If Ronaldo’s Portuguese contemporaries didn’t put up equally impressive or better numbers than Ronaldo over the course of the season then of course he’d 100 percent deserve the award. However, looking at the numbers of other Portuguese starlets, this is not the case.
The Competition
There are two other Portuguese footballers who I think deserved at least consideration for the Portuguese Player of the Year honor. The first is Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva. Silva had a statistically weaker season than Ronaldo domestically, finishing his season with 13 goals and 14 assists for Man City last season.
But looking at his international performance, Silva has the edge over Ronaldo, playing an integral role in Portugal’s UEFA Nations League title, so much so that he won player of the tournament, much to Ronaldo’s chagrin. Beyond that, Silva’s contribution to the teams he plays for can’t be fully portrayed through stats. His high defensive work rate and ability to link the defense and offense is crucial to both Manchester City and Portugal and deserves recognition. All this being said, given the statistically less impressive season, I can see how Ronaldo could edge Silva out for the award.
However, I don’t see how he won the award over the second candidate, Bruno Fernandes. Bruno Fernandes had an absolutely monstrous season for Sporting Lisbon. The box-to-box midfielder finished with a ridiculous stat line of 32 goals and 18 assists in his 2018-19 campaign. While those numbers are par for the course for Ronaldo most seasons, it's important to remember that Fernandes put these numbers up from the midfield, meaning that he accomplished all of this while also managing his defensive duties.
To put these numbers into perspective, Frank Lampard, who is considered one of the greatest goal-scoring midfielders of all time, scored 21 goals in the highest scoring season of his career. Fernandes has scored 11 more goals than that and he’s only 24 years old. Sure, Ronaldo’s team found much more success than Sporting Lisbon over the past year, but in my opinion that only bolsters Fernandes’ case, as he literally dragged his team, which is falling apart at the seams, to third place in the Portuguese league. The fact that none of the major clubs signed this phenom over the summer is absolutely baffling to me.
Whether or not you agree with my argument, I think it's clear that this season marks the beginning of a changing of the guard in Portugal. While I don’t think Ronaldo is past it by any means, it is becoming increasingly difficult to look at his current form and place him on a pedestal above his talented Portuguese contemporaries.
