Spanish national team starting goalkeeper Unai Simon and Portuguese national team starting striker Cristiano Ronaldo actually just missed each other at the club level, as Cristiano left Real Madrid after winning the Champions League in 2018 while Simon did not ascend to the senior team for the Viejo Clasico rivals until 2018.
Since then, Cristiano has still been winning titles and breaking records, while Simon has become a well known name in football in his own right and one of the top keepers in Spain. On Monday night in the World Cup Round of 16, the Iberian rivals will square off, and Simon will have the unenviable task of trying to keep Cristiano away from the back of the net.
Fresh off scoring his third goal of the World Cup with yet another cooly taken penalty, Cristiano had another great game for Portugal with an even better finish chalked off by VAR by the mere point of his shoulder. For all the gleeful posturing by the likes of Thierry Henry and Zlatan Ibrahimovic about their contemporary being finished after a rough matchup against DR Congo, Ronaldo has since been tremendous for Portugal; only a fool would bench him.
Spain are smarter than the pundits on TV
Ronaldo's opponents, though, are not underestimating him, and Unai Simon had his own take about Ronaldo, admitting that while he is not the same player as he was seven years ago when he first started up at Juventus, the 41 year old remains as lethal as they come when the chances fall his way.
Simon said of the Portuguese legend, via Madrid Xtra, “Today's Cristiano is NOT the same as the Cristiano from 6,7 years ago, when he was in his prime. But it's clear that we need to keep him as far away from the box as possible, when he gets 1 chance, he scores.”
There is a reason why Simon is the Spanish national team goalkeeper and the pundits posturing about Ronaldo are mostly people like Antonio Cassano and Zlatan Ibrahimovic who were serial underachievers at the team level, known more for ego than accomplishments at the highest level.
Cristiano Roaldo is still an elite player. He may not move like he once did, but his finishing and instincts are incredible. Every team is gameplanning to keep Ronaldo away from the ball in the box, and Portugal's main priority is to get him those chances. Because as he has shown at this World Cup, he can still deliver big time. Spain are no fools and will have him under their watch closely.
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