Cristiano Ronaldo’s red card may bless him

Last Wednesday it was Champions League day. Cristiano Ronaldo was going to debut in this competition as a Juventus player, one day after Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick in Barcelona’s first UCL match of the season.

Hence, unsurprisingly, Ronaldo was extremely driven to prove his worth once again. Unfortunately for him, with less than half an hour on the pitch he was sent off in a controversial decision.

The referee’s decision is definitely questionable and most people do not agree with it. Although, beyond that, what do we see? An extremely competitive individual driven to perform at a top level every time, who turns all his passion into tears after realising his first UCL match as a Bianconero ended too soon.

As expected, this moment led to people mocking and criticising Ronaldo for this situation. However, this is the second stage of a well-known vicious circle:

• 1^st stage: Ronaldo has a setback (bad game, scoreless stint, red card…);
• 2^nd stage: Critics mock him (“he is too old”; “he only scores penalty kicks”…);
• 3^rd stage: Ronaldo, fuelled by the critics, works hard and comes back in style.

This happened time and time again throughout his career, which will be demonstrated by recent examples. When Portuguese people criticised Ronaldo for being too old, not running as fast as before and even not playing very well in the National team, right before he helped Portugal conquer the European Championship in 2016.

Moreover, in the beginning of last season Cristiano also had a red card, although this one had him suspended for 4 games – in contrast to his current 1 game suspension –, which made him a different beast when he came back (at least in the Champions League).

All in all, this red card might prove to be good for the Portuguese star. Successful people come back stronger after a setback, and Ronaldo is no exception.

Fans who react too quickly to a bad moment may have short memory, since they don’t seem to be taking into account what this person has done for his country and for football as a whole. Besides he is also a great inspiration for loads of people, regardless of their vocations.

To sum up, Ronaldo’s haters are doing a great job at motivating him. Thus, as serious football fans, instead of asking for good values and open-minded debates, we probably should be thanking the critics for giving that extra boost to Cristiano which helps him showcase his qualities.