Real Madrid fans will always have nothing but love and respect for club legend Cristiano Ronaldo, who is the greatest ever goal scorer and player in the club's history, the center piece of the incredible three peat era and the main man who brought Madrid back from being a one and done Champions League side to the king's of the biggest competition in club football.
Cristiano and Portugal had a rough first game of the 2026 World Cup against an underrated DR Congo side, and the opportunists, such as the ever jealous pairing of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thierry Henry, were all too eager to declare the 41 year old finished. Everyone started piling on, and instead of having a nuanced discussion of Roberto Martinez's bizarre tactics with the wingers and midfield or pointing out the smart runs Ronaldo was making off the ball, it all became a giant competition of who could drag Ronaldo's name the hardest.
It was not an unfamiliar sight for Real Madrid fans who had seen the media do this with Cristiano even when he was in his prime, winning trophies and breaking records for the biggest franchise in the history of professional sports.
Cristiano Ronaldo did not steal any shine
Well, Cristiano Ronaldo answered the critics in a big way with a beautiful brace in Portugal's 5-0 win over Uzbekistan, and while the usual jealous pundits still did their best to ignore, diminsh, or excuse away the performance, the rest of the unbiased world were happy to see one of the stage's biggest stars shining as brightly as the others.
But what really set Cristiano's performance apart and tore down the main argument that Ronaldo is a selfish person who is holding back Portugal for his own ego was the gesture he made for one of the goals of the match.
In a familiar sight, Ronaldo stood over the ball for a free kick just on the edge of the area. And normally just a couple of years ago, Ronaldo would have 100 percent taken it. The camera was fully focused on him, and every person in the arena and watching at home figured it would have been Cristiano to take it, ready to groan at him hitting the wall or otherwise missing, which has unfortunately become almost a guarantee at this stage of his career.
Except Cristiano didn't take. Nuno Mendes did. And the PSG left back scored, with the goalkeeper, just like the rest of us, 100 percent assuming it would be the right footed Ronaldo blasting the kick. Instead, Mendes hit it towards his near post, and though the ball was pretty close to the keeper, he could not parry it away as he had already committed his momentum to the other side, believing this was Ronaldo's to hit.
The result was a goal, and the gesture was a beautiful moment of Cristiano passing the torch to one of the new world class stars of Portugal. It was Ronaldo acknowledging that he was not the best man to take the kick and instead allowing a young star to benefit quite literally from his distraction. Maybe the biggest egoists are the ones in the media who make everyhing about Ronaldo in the first place.
Add us as a preferred source on Google