It really shouldn’t come as a surprise given the outcome of the 2017-18 UEFA Men’s Player of the Year Award voting (finishing order: Luka Modric, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mohamed Salah), but the three finalists for The Best FIFA Men’s Player 2018 are Modric, Ronaldo and Salah, leaving the likes of Lionel Messi, Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe and Kevin De Bruyne on the outside looking in.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s life is harder than you may think. There are days his six pack abs do not show off very well or a fan takes a bad selfie of him. Sometimes he does not even score for two or three games.
But this? Not winning what would have been a 98th trophy? Not having to clear space in your cabinet for another award. Now that, that, is really tough.
In some respects, it was the goal that sparked Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Juventus. Now it’s been named the UEFA Goal of the Season 2017-18, and there was never really any doubt.
For all the goals scored by the likes of Liverpool, Barcelona and Manchester City in the Champions League, no goal quite compared to the Cristiano Ronaldo bicycle kick against Juventus.
Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t score and he even put an opponent in the hospital during his debut with Juventus on Saturday. But Ronaldo’s mere presence in Serie A spiked TV ratings in his new country.
It's hard to imagine narrowing the shortlist from a field that also included the likes of Kylian Mbappé, Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann, but a jury comprised of coaches and journalists have spoken and named their top three: Today, UEFA announced that one of Luka Modrić, Cristiano Ronaldo or Mohamed Salah will be named the 2018 UEFA Player of the Year, an award given to the best footballer “irrespective of nationality, playing for a club within the territory of a UEFA member association during the past season” for their “performances in all competition — domestic, continental and interna
Last night, Real Madrid started its 2018-19 LaLiga campaign off right with a win over Getafe. Goals from Gareth Bale and Dani Carvajal were enough to lift Juan Lopetegui’s side over the Azulones as they cruised to a comfortable victory.
The Cristiano Ronaldo Juventus debut ended with the expected three points — eventually.
The Bianconeri scored early, went behind in the second half and then needed a wild ending to see off Chievo 3-2 on Saturday in the opening match of Serie A.
Ronaldo made his debut for the Old Lady and was at the center of some late controversy before Federico Bernardeschi scored a stoppage time winner.
VAR and goal-line technology were both used in the closing minutes of the 90 with the match even at 2-2.
No one — we repeat, no one — is immune to initiation rites in soccer. Not a 40-year-old legend of the game and not even one of the best players of all time. Although after watching the Cristiano Ronaldo initiation song with Juventus, maybe these embarrassing displays need to stop — for the children.
Earlier this month, Gianluigi Buffon was seen belting out a glorious song for his PSG initiation rites. He earned a rousing ovation from his new teammates.
An annual friendly between the Juventus first team and the under-20 squad (that sounds rough) at the Agnelli family estate (the founders of FIAT motor company and owners of the club) saw Cristiano Ronaldo make his first appearance for the Old Lady. It took the Portuguese eight minutes to open his account after a ball over the top sent him through on goal.
The Juve U-20 keeper decided to stay on his line, and Ronaldo buried his effort inside the left post.