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They also asked this
‘Manchester City praise is not easy for you as you are a Manchester United legend?’
🗣️ Cristiano Ronaldo: “If they deserve it, why not? They had a great season.”
Fergie would send congratulations when his rivals won. Didn’t he also call Klopp after Liverpool’s CL (or PL) win to congratulate him? Sure I read that. Nothing wrong with being respectful when a rival achieves.
Klopp visited Old Trafford but iirc someone form United said that they wanted the club to be the "Disneyland of Football" and Klopp walked away.
Possibly the biggest fumble of all time
He was definitely good entertainment for anyone who wasn’t a United fan. Obviously for us, he was the crusher of our hopes and destroyer of our dreams. The corporeal reckoning of the Faustian pact we must have made to enjoy the success of the 90s and 00s.
If you want another fun story of the ineptitude of our corporate leadership, Solskjaer was actually not bad at spotting youth. We tried to get Haaland due to his links to Solskjaer, but failed.
Solskjaer turned his attention to a 16 year old Bellingham. Bellingham did consider us instead of Dortmund and agreed to visit the club. Solskjaer rang up Sir Alex and asked him to be there for this all out presentation to Bellingham and his family that he wanted to organise to show Bellingham just how integral he will be to the team and how youth is important etc.
Bellingham arrives, Sir Alex shakes his hand...and Murtough immediately ushers Bellingham away for a tour of a very outdated Carrington instead.
Apparently there's been a power struggle at old Trafford for years. Murtough only got his role as he helped Woodward over the years and Woodward wanted to reward him rather than have him go to...the MLS. And how did Murtough get noticed? He was cutting edge enough to...take some cool meeting notes.
Apparently Sir Alex fucking hates him. And the feeling seems to be mutual.
It's honestly wild not to follow SAF's word on any call regarding something integral for United's success. Kind of funny how the club keep him around enough to please the fans, but take the steps to detach themselves from him to keep the clowns in charge.
If there was a power struggle, it would make complete sense given how United has been.
Considering their status and the money they make, United is the best positioned club in the country to dominate for decades, but they're poorly run. When they were unified under Fergie they were unstoppable.
The most unfortunate part of the Fergie succession was that he had lost sight of how unique his role was and believed that any normal manager could slot in as a replacement. If he'd "stepped upstairs" as sporting director and let Moyes (or anyone) start by taking over the first team then United would have been in a very different positions.
Believe it or not Moyes was quite far down the list of managers SAF wanted to replace him.
From his book, ‘Leading’ - Pep was first choice, with Mourinho, Ancelotti and LvG also mentioned, but re Klopp, ‘We also knew that Jürgen Klopp was happy at Borussia Dortmund and would be signing a new contract.’
A bit random, but I wonder if Vilas-Boas was considered at any point. Ferguson must have been building up to his retirement for a couple of years, and he was very highly rated around that time.
Couldn’t tell ya but he wasn’t mentioned by Fergie in the book in that context. And possibly re building up, but for sure United didn’t do much succession planning (part of the reason the last ten years have been such a relative disaster) and it’s said that he only decided to quit when his wife’s sister died mid season
This is the thing though. SAF and most United supporters have respect for Liverpool and our other rivals. Their achievements speak for themselves and as much as we hate them as rivals there is respect between the clubs and fanbases. We love to hate them but would miss them if they were gone or went down. And then you have "clubs" like City who no one cares if win or not and are pretty much irrelevant.
When he signed for Juventus people swore they would win the Champions League (look up the comments in the thread at the time), when he signed for United they expected them to compete for the PL (look at comments at the time.) Juventus had been to CL finals recently and United had just finished 2nd. People expected them to compete for the titles.
Few people expected him to leave Juve when they were 4th or to have United finish 6th. Now people give you all sorts of reasons why it happened but at the time the expectation was radically different.
They take it for granted City would've won the CL or something with him, you have to at the very least admit it's not a given.
Yeah but look at the squad he joined. They were desperate for a new midfield. They were spending big so people expected them to get it, but after he came in they totally stopped spending basically.
Right but at the time so many people took it for granted Juventus would at the very least challenge for the CL. Only after that didn't happen did people say "well, maybe it wasn't as certain as we thought."
Seriously look up the thread where he signed, no one expected them to be dumped out by Ajax, Lyon, and Porto in the early stages of CL. Or lose their domination over Serie A completely.
It's the exact same situation here. People hype a hypothetical signing like it would have worked with 100% certainty.
Fans aren't always smart. They lost all of their top tier midfielders in the few years before Ronaldo came in and they didn't replace them. It wasn't exactly surprising when you looked at it. They looked at them spending big on Ronaldo and others like De Ligt and figured they'd also go and get a couple top midfielders.
Squad sans midfield was good enough to finish second, and was 100% a cl club. Look, prime Ronnie is the 2nd best player of our generation, but even in that last season at Real one could see how his numbers had began to fall. Still good enough to get the return of a good top level striker, but nothing extraordinary. Only problem was that due to how much the team has to be set around him, the rest of the team would play less freely. Previously he could make up for this with tonnes of goals - But is it worth it when he cannot score 60 goals per season anymore?
Yes he was topscorer at Juve and at Utd, but I would be lying if I said the offence got better with Ronaldo. Particularly in the case of United - You as a united fan definitely remember how Bruno suddenly became mediocre and genuinely struggled.
No it wasn't this argument is so reductive it is stupid. They finished 2nd in a covid season where liver did not have a single 1st team defender at points, let alone other injuries /covid cases (mane got fucked hard by covid after starting very well and never truly recovered his speed till this day)
Chelsea had more than half the 1st team out with covid almost every single match week and more importantly
#No freaking fans in the stadium
It is a completely irregular season and their points in that season were so low it wouldn't get them 2nd in any single season of
#The entire past decade.
God I hate this stupid shit. Lime I know your pedantic ass ain't saying fred mactominy are 2 of the top 10 midfielders in the PL
Definitely. It was not his fault though for both Juve and United. He played well in both clubs. His mistake was leaving Madrid too, when people said it was a mistake from Madrid perspective. Fast forwards 4 years and Madrid won 2 LaLigas and a CL, with multiple Cup trophies, and Ronaldo is playing for Al-Nassr (not necessarily bad at 39, but who would've thought?).
My point was that football is unpredictable, which means I agree.
Nothing is guaranteed in sports. The main argument is that Ronaldo to City would mean that the odds would be overwhelmingly with him and not against him. City has had an otherworldly squad, all of them were thirsty for titles and Ronaldo is still world class as a target man / poacher. It's highly likely that had he moved to Man City in the summer of 2021 he'd have won another UCL by now, maybe one or two more PLs and maybe a couple cup competitions (FA Cups, League Cups, Community Shields, Euro Supercup, Club World Cup). If Ronaldo had just completed a treble then Messi's WC and whole "it's over" agenda would never be the same.
given his ability, why do you think it wouldnt have been guaranteed success? He's not that different from Haaland De bruyne would've been feeding him just like he does to Haaland
People said the same thing about him going to Juventus. There's no such thing as guaranteed success.
Secondly Haaland last season was better than Ronaldo. And by a lot.
>People said the same thing about him going to Juventus. There's no such thing as guaranteed success.
Ronaldo did his part dutring his time at Juve he scored goals, lots of them but the team for some reason didnt do as well as they thought they would. Even at United he finished the season as the 3rd top goal scorer in the league. He did his job as well.
>Secondly Haaland last season was better than Ronaldo. And by a lot.
Of course haaland is better but the difference between them in terms of goal scoring isnt that different by a wide margin
Without going down a rabbit hole too much, I think what OP is getting at is that Man City before Haaland's arrival were crying out for a traditional number 9 who could stick it in the back of the net and Ronaldo would fit the bill about as well as any striker in the world
Remember he scored 18 goals in a lousy United side. Make no mistake he would've bagged at least 25 at City with their midfield.
People said that because they expected Ronaldo to still be capable of carrying Juve who were good but not clear cut best team in the world good. People expect that from him at City because they are already so strong without him that with him they would be tipped over the edge. People can make the same prediction for 2 different situations and one prediction being incorrect does not invalidate the possibility of the other considering they are being made for completely different reasons.
It isn’t his fault, that Juventus didn’t build around Ronaldo and had a aging squad.Ronaldo scored 101 scored for Juventus.
And, well for United Ronaldo singlehandedly dragged them out of group stages in CL and also scored 18 league goals,2nd highest for prem. The united team was shit and player’s didn’t care much. Nobody track backed or ran. Rashford throughout the season had his head down.
Yes and also he finished 2nd on FIFA’s best player a year prior. The Man United was shit that season and this season as well. It was Ronaldo who cared the most.
I mean obviously its not a given but city, unlike juve and united, is a really well run club. They didnt need cristiano to do a miracle or anything like that, just give them that final push. The only issue is that he would of definitely needed to switch position to fit into city’s team but im sure he would of made it work for a year or two
That's my point though, if they had signed Ronaldo it's entirely possible that they would've not signed Haaland, and if that's the case they may never have won the CL. Ronaldo is obviously a bigger legend but Haaland last season was miles better than the current Ronaldo.
I thought your point was just simply that signing cr7 doesn’t guarantee winning the CL.
Who knows maybe if cr7 goes to city they win the CL that year and the boosted confidence and motivation means that his level doesn’t drop as much and he manages to win back to back CL with city
People online always say definitive statements on which trophies X team would’ve won if Y player joined or similar possibilities. Normally based on absolutely nothing, just big team big player. Literally have no way of knowing so what’s the point?
Fun fact: Juve also got the 4th place on the very last matchday in 2021 thanks to a suicide from Naples (which lost to 16th~ Verona at home LOL) otherwise they would have ended in 5th place
More quotes tweeted by Romano:
>Cristiano Ronaldo: “I was the best goalscorer this season, imagine beating young animals like Haaland… I’m proud. And I’ll be 39 soon!”.
“I like when people doubt again about me and then I’m successfull. I don’t get affected by the criticism”.
>Cristiano Ronaldo: “Saudi League is not worst than Ligue1”.
“Saudi Pro League is more competitive than Ligue1, I can say that after one year spent there”.
“We are better than French league already now”.
"Weakest" Of the "top 5" Leagues so if you Want to prob your league or argue that youre among the best its the first domino. Also why we used to see more Liga Nos vs Ligue 1 debate that with the others.
France: why he say fuck me for?
Saudis can eat a dick. I am willing to believe the top teams of the saudi league are somewhat above the worst teams of league 1, but overall there probably aren't enough good teams and many of the top players in those good saudi teams aren't trying that hard anyway.
Love Ronaldo. Very bothered by his ambassadorship to this league but I'd probably do the same if no one took me in Europe and I got eye watering money. Be a god or be a substitute player? Probably an easy choice for him.
I mean, he could have talked about the MLS and the statement would even hold more ground. I think it is pretty clear that he is trying to compare the Saudi League to the top leagues (however delusional that would be) not making a dig at Messi.
>he could have talked about the MLS and the statement would even hold more ground
He already said Saudi League is better than MLS even though the reporter didn't ask lol
Stop chatting shit, the reporter literally DID ask him. How can you say this with a straight face when there’s literally a video of the whole thing happening.
Wonder how much he gets paid to say that shit. We say it’s his ego justifying it but maybe it’s somebody’s check hitting for the reason he’s saying it.
I still vividly remember the 180 from United fans when he decided to go to United instead of City. It was like ‘rapist city signed a rapist’ to ‘he’s coming home’
Most City fans were really against this signing. Some people were happy to take him, but a lot of us looked at his baggage (personality & assault) as disruptive and problematic. Had friends tell me they would take a break from supporting the club while he was at the club because they couldn't reconcile their support with him being the face of the club.
Reddit is far from everyone, but the city sub wasn't exactly [against] (https://www.reddit.com/r/MCFC/comments/pc8oum/breaking_mancity_will_make_a_30m_offer_for/) it.
Yeah, lots of people were excited. For a lot of people who didn't care about the assault it was like a Teves 2.0 and they were preparing the 2nd Welcome to Manchester sign. It didn't happen and they looking at the drama that followed it, I think we all know we dodged a bullet.
>Had friends tell me they would take a break from supporting the club while he was at the club because they couldn't reconcile their support with him being the face of the club.
So that's where y'all draw the line? There must be like 115 better reasons.
Somewhat but not as much. At that point of time missing out on Ronaldo would not have been massive, which it wasn't. And it was clear he needed a matching if not better financial offer to go back to his club, where he transformed into a legend. As opposed to their rival. You can't argue with that.
He also said Saudi league > French league: [https://x.com/fabrizioromano/status/1748371184188539123?s=61&t=9FtlVQQA-LoQ-d3Y0zop-Q](https://x.com/fabrizioromano/status/1748371184188539123?s=61&t=9ftlvqqa-loq-d3y0zop-q)
I support City and Tuchel’s Chelsea outplayed them by a mile that final game.
That said, this is a normal statement, not sure how people hate ronaldo for this per se.
I wish Cristiano Ronaldo would've signed for Manchester City before going to Manchester United his second time. He's a true professional and a great player, and I feel confident that he would've been great in a Guardiola side. Who knows, maybe he would've been the difference in City winning the CL two years ago.
> they probably deserved it two years ago
Nobody 'deserves' to win a game but if you REALLY wanna pick a team that deserved a win that day, it would be Chelsea. Created the better chances, defended better and consistently denied any clear scoring opportunities.
If by two years ago he means Chelsea, that's complete BS. Chelsea outplayed City in the final. City only threatened goal a couple of times all match. Puli missed a sitter or it would have been 2-0. City had no answer for Chelsea's setup and playing with no holding mid failed to give them the offensive edge they sought and instead made them extremely vulnerable.
That match was no anomaly. Chelsea were the best squad in the Spring of 2021, dumping Real Madrid out of the CL (along with Atletico) and beating City twice in the run up to the CL final. At that point in time they were better than city and the CL final was in keeping with that.
Yeah druing that period, Chelsea had City number. They were so solid in defense and were. the best team in Europe. I was surprised that City were regarded as favorites before the final
Chelsea beat City 3 times in a span of the month, including that CL final. Is it really just "better on that day" when it happens 3 times in such a short period of time?
It could be what he meant. And if it is then he'd be completely wrong for the reasons I stated. Chelsea were not only better than City on that day, they were clearly better than City at that time. They were better than anyone at that time.
I miss those days lol. But I am not a fan of revisionist history.
I would even say that the final was decided as soon as the second match between them ended. Chelsea had the psychological advantage, and City -at least until they finally broke it last season- had always suffered mental collapses and chokes in Europe. The final started 0,5 - 0 for Chelsea, and it was always closer to a 2-0, 3-0, than to a 1-1.
Also at that moment , Chelsea were the most effective team under Tuchel and he came when Lampard got fire. Took Chelsea from pretty much mid table to a 3rd place finish. In addition to that Chelsea at that time not just have a very solid starting 11 but a also a very solid bench that were very competitive.
Plus Tuchel on Chelses was severely underrated. Took Chelsea to the FA cup finals and Carabao cup finals that they lost to Liverpool in penalties, lost against Madrid cuz of Rodrygo last min goal and Benzema goal on extra time , and still got to Top 4 in Premier League with all the problems surrounding Chelsea cuz Abromovic was russian and war things.
Kante was insane and deserved to be Top 3 with Lewandowski and Messi. Jorginho is good but Kante was massive against Real Madrid and City. He literally run for the whole 90 minutes non stop.
Tuchel's setup in those 3 games was superb against City. Really thought he would build on that with a full window but things seemed to fall off quickly by the end.
i always think fergie and man utd shouldve done more to get Pep.i know fergie was courting him but Pep wanted a year off.Maybe a golden handshake to come in when he was ready....
If he means the Chelsea game that's nonsense, we deserved that UCL 100%. Completely outplayed them in the final and the defense all campaign was incredible.
Yeah, mancity were shit in that final. I don't even think they created a single clear chance that day. If werner could finish, it would have been an embarrassing scoreline.
Think the word rival is really misunderstood, especially in sports, your rival isn’t your enemy or nemesis, they’re a person or thing you’re competing against yes, but for them to even your rival they need to actually stack up, be as superior as you, so there is a desire in wanting to see your rival thrive and even acknowledging when they’re the better, no one wants to compete or compare to a rival that isn’t in form.
Great to see Ronaldo applies this.
The chances we had in that final could've led to a battering, if we knew how to finish. City didn't really threaten until KDB went off injured in the second half, but it never looked like they were ever gonna score even then, apart from that Mahrez chance at the death.
City didn't deserve shit in that final.
If, for whatever reason, he means the following year, they didn't deserve it then either. Real were on a mad one that year. No one was stopping them and their comebacks, and no one deserved it more than them.
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They also asked this ‘Manchester City praise is not easy for you as you are a Manchester United legend?’ 🗣️ Cristiano Ronaldo: “If they deserve it, why not? They had a great season.”
Fergie would send congratulations when his rivals won. Didn’t he also call Klopp after Liverpool’s CL (or PL) win to congratulate him? Sure I read that. Nothing wrong with being respectful when a rival achieves.
I think Klopp called SAF while he was drunk and celebrating iirc. He said SAF was not pleased.
Looked this up. 3am! Poor Fergie lol. The context is him and Klopp apparently get along well, which makes it a little more wholesome in that view.
I believe fergie had earmarked Klopp as a successor at some point back in the day. Might just be story though
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Klopp visited Old Trafford but iirc someone form United said that they wanted the club to be the "Disneyland of Football" and Klopp walked away. Possibly the biggest fumble of all time
That would be Ed Woodward. Cheers Ed.
He probably felt like Don Draper after that one.
Felt like Don Draper, sounded like Donald Duck.
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He was definitely good entertainment for anyone who wasn’t a United fan. Obviously for us, he was the crusher of our hopes and destroyer of our dreams. The corporeal reckoning of the Faustian pact we must have made to enjoy the success of the 90s and 00s.
If you want another fun story of the ineptitude of our corporate leadership, Solskjaer was actually not bad at spotting youth. We tried to get Haaland due to his links to Solskjaer, but failed. Solskjaer turned his attention to a 16 year old Bellingham. Bellingham did consider us instead of Dortmund and agreed to visit the club. Solskjaer rang up Sir Alex and asked him to be there for this all out presentation to Bellingham and his family that he wanted to organise to show Bellingham just how integral he will be to the team and how youth is important etc. Bellingham arrives, Sir Alex shakes his hand...and Murtough immediately ushers Bellingham away for a tour of a very outdated Carrington instead. Apparently there's been a power struggle at old Trafford for years. Murtough only got his role as he helped Woodward over the years and Woodward wanted to reward him rather than have him go to...the MLS. And how did Murtough get noticed? He was cutting edge enough to...take some cool meeting notes. Apparently Sir Alex fucking hates him. And the feeling seems to be mutual.
It's honestly wild not to follow SAF's word on any call regarding something integral for United's success. Kind of funny how the club keep him around enough to please the fans, but take the steps to detach themselves from him to keep the clowns in charge.
He should be a god walking among men.
If there was a power struggle, it would make complete sense given how United has been. Considering their status and the money they make, United is the best positioned club in the country to dominate for decades, but they're poorly run. When they were unified under Fergie they were unstoppable.
The most unfortunate part of the Fergie succession was that he had lost sight of how unique his role was and believed that any normal manager could slot in as a replacement. If he'd "stepped upstairs" as sporting director and let Moyes (or anyone) start by taking over the first team then United would have been in a very different positions.
What does Disneyland of Football mean? What does Disneyland of anything mean?
Strictly speaking, it would mean a Mickey Mouse club.
Well that was a success then...
Probably tried to convey that it is the place where dreams come true, that he could do everything he wanted.
Is... is that what Disneyland represents to people? It just looks like an overpriced theme park to me.
Look to the other club in Manchester for more info...
Mascots dressed as Ronaldo and Beckham.
Commercial success above all else. Except they're honestly not even that good at that when you actually break it down.
I think having universal appeal and strong branding?
Moyes was 8th on the list iirc
Believe it or not Moyes was quite far down the list of managers SAF wanted to replace him. From his book, ‘Leading’ - Pep was first choice, with Mourinho, Ancelotti and LvG also mentioned, but re Klopp, ‘We also knew that Jürgen Klopp was happy at Borussia Dortmund and would be signing a new contract.’
A bit random, but I wonder if Vilas-Boas was considered at any point. Ferguson must have been building up to his retirement for a couple of years, and he was very highly rated around that time.
Couldn’t tell ya but he wasn’t mentioned by Fergie in the book in that context. And possibly re building up, but for sure United didn’t do much succession planning (part of the reason the last ten years have been such a relative disaster) and it’s said that he only decided to quit when his wife’s sister died mid season
I don't think he was on the list, as per the book
Wenger tried to sign Klopp
Thanks for the chuckle mate, I didn’t know Jurgen got wet.
There are videos of him Dancing at 3AM after his second CL loss(Liverpool Madrid 2018) and he has such a crazy energy about him.
Fergie has huge respect for Liverpool. Theres an entire chapter in his autobiography about why he likes them so much.
This is the thing though. SAF and most United supporters have respect for Liverpool and our other rivals. Their achievements speak for themselves and as much as we hate them as rivals there is respect between the clubs and fanbases. We love to hate them but would miss them if they were gone or went down. And then you have "clubs" like City who no one cares if win or not and are pretty much irrelevant.
Pep said Fergie called him before the final to wish him luck
Excuse me sir, but your comment doesn't fit in with the Reddit mantra that everything Ronaldo says is toxic and out to spite former clubs.
Nothing wrong with this but I’m sure some fans will find a way to be pissed off.
It's Ronaldo, it will pziss off more than just Man U fans...
It would piss off entire Reddit.
Feel like more United fans would be pissed if he praised Liverpool than City tbf
he’s right, there shouldn’t be any controversy around this statement at all but somehow they’ll spin it negatively
Just said his opinion and also a factual statement Now watch chaos ensue
this sub is in meltdown whenever some player says something positive against their rival
I enjoyed watching Arsenal last season. They were really enjoyable to watch the whole season.
If only he hadn’t listened to SAF
if he'd joined city the goat debate would've gone on forever
When he signed for Juventus people swore they would win the Champions League (look up the comments in the thread at the time), when he signed for United they expected them to compete for the PL (look at comments at the time.) Juventus had been to CL finals recently and United had just finished 2nd. People expected them to compete for the titles. Few people expected him to leave Juve when they were 4th or to have United finish 6th. Now people give you all sorts of reasons why it happened but at the time the expectation was radically different. They take it for granted City would've won the CL or something with him, you have to at the very least admit it's not a given.
Yeah but look at the squad he joined. They were desperate for a new midfield. They were spending big so people expected them to get it, but after he came in they totally stopped spending basically.
Right but at the time so many people took it for granted Juventus would at the very least challenge for the CL. Only after that didn't happen did people say "well, maybe it wasn't as certain as we thought." Seriously look up the thread where he signed, no one expected them to be dumped out by Ajax, Lyon, and Porto in the early stages of CL. Or lose their domination over Serie A completely. It's the exact same situation here. People hype a hypothetical signing like it would have worked with 100% certainty.
Fans aren't always smart. They lost all of their top tier midfielders in the few years before Ronaldo came in and they didn't replace them. It wasn't exactly surprising when you looked at it. They looked at them spending big on Ronaldo and others like De Ligt and figured they'd also go and get a couple top midfielders.
Squad sans midfield was good enough to finish second, and was 100% a cl club. Look, prime Ronnie is the 2nd best player of our generation, but even in that last season at Real one could see how his numbers had began to fall. Still good enough to get the return of a good top level striker, but nothing extraordinary. Only problem was that due to how much the team has to be set around him, the rest of the team would play less freely. Previously he could make up for this with tonnes of goals - But is it worth it when he cannot score 60 goals per season anymore? Yes he was topscorer at Juve and at Utd, but I would be lying if I said the offence got better with Ronaldo. Particularly in the case of United - You as a united fan definitely remember how Bruno suddenly became mediocre and genuinely struggled.
No it wasn't this argument is so reductive it is stupid. They finished 2nd in a covid season where liver did not have a single 1st team defender at points, let alone other injuries /covid cases (mane got fucked hard by covid after starting very well and never truly recovered his speed till this day) Chelsea had more than half the 1st team out with covid almost every single match week and more importantly #No freaking fans in the stadium It is a completely irregular season and their points in that season were so low it wouldn't get them 2nd in any single season of #The entire past decade. God I hate this stupid shit. Lime I know your pedantic ass ain't saying fred mactominy are 2 of the top 10 midfielders in the PL
Definitely. It was not his fault though for both Juve and United. He played well in both clubs. His mistake was leaving Madrid too, when people said it was a mistake from Madrid perspective. Fast forwards 4 years and Madrid won 2 LaLigas and a CL, with multiple Cup trophies, and Ronaldo is playing for Al-Nassr (not necessarily bad at 39, but who would've thought?). My point was that football is unpredictable, which means I agree.
You're right but people talk like Ronaldo to city would've been a guaranteed success but reality is unpredictable
Nothing is guaranteed in sports. The main argument is that Ronaldo to City would mean that the odds would be overwhelmingly with him and not against him. City has had an otherworldly squad, all of them were thirsty for titles and Ronaldo is still world class as a target man / poacher. It's highly likely that had he moved to Man City in the summer of 2021 he'd have won another UCL by now, maybe one or two more PLs and maybe a couple cup competitions (FA Cups, League Cups, Community Shields, Euro Supercup, Club World Cup). If Ronaldo had just completed a treble then Messi's WC and whole "it's over" agenda would never be the same.
given his ability, why do you think it wouldnt have been guaranteed success? He's not that different from Haaland De bruyne would've been feeding him just like he does to Haaland
People said the same thing about him going to Juventus. There's no such thing as guaranteed success. Secondly Haaland last season was better than Ronaldo. And by a lot.
>People said the same thing about him going to Juventus. There's no such thing as guaranteed success. Ronaldo did his part dutring his time at Juve he scored goals, lots of them but the team for some reason didnt do as well as they thought they would. Even at United he finished the season as the 3rd top goal scorer in the league. He did his job as well. >Secondly Haaland last season was better than Ronaldo. And by a lot. Of course haaland is better but the difference between them in terms of goal scoring isnt that different by a wide margin
Last season in the PL there wasn't a wide margin between Haaland and Ronaldo? You sure?
last season doesnt count because he played less than 10 games and left
Without going down a rabbit hole too much, I think what OP is getting at is that Man City before Haaland's arrival were crying out for a traditional number 9 who could stick it in the back of the net and Ronaldo would fit the bill about as well as any striker in the world Remember he scored 18 goals in a lousy United side. Make no mistake he would've bagged at least 25 at City with their midfield.
People said that because they expected Ronaldo to still be capable of carrying Juve who were good but not clear cut best team in the world good. People expect that from him at City because they are already so strong without him that with him they would be tipped over the edge. People can make the same prediction for 2 different situations and one prediction being incorrect does not invalidate the possibility of the other considering they are being made for completely different reasons.
My problem is yall talk like it's assured even after making wrong predictions before
It isn’t his fault, that Juventus didn’t build around Ronaldo and had a aging squad.Ronaldo scored 101 scored for Juventus. And, well for United Ronaldo singlehandedly dragged them out of group stages in CL and also scored 18 league goals,2nd highest for prem. The united team was shit and player’s didn’t care much. Nobody track backed or ran. Rashford throughout the season had his head down.
Remember the spurs game. Conte said he didnt lose that game to the team he lost to Ronaldo
Yes and also he finished 2nd on FIFA’s best player a year prior. The Man United was shit that season and this season as well. It was Ronaldo who cared the most.
I mean obviously its not a given but city, unlike juve and united, is a really well run club. They didnt need cristiano to do a miracle or anything like that, just give them that final push. The only issue is that he would of definitely needed to switch position to fit into city’s team but im sure he would of made it work for a year or two
Ronaldo last season was no longer anywhere near to as good as Haaland.
Of course, in hindsight city being patient and getting haaland ended up being the best thing they could of done
That's my point though, if they had signed Ronaldo it's entirely possible that they would've not signed Haaland, and if that's the case they may never have won the CL. Ronaldo is obviously a bigger legend but Haaland last season was miles better than the current Ronaldo.
I thought your point was just simply that signing cr7 doesn’t guarantee winning the CL. Who knows maybe if cr7 goes to city they win the CL that year and the boosted confidence and motivation means that his level doesn’t drop as much and he manages to win back to back CL with city
People online always say definitive statements on which trophies X team would’ve won if Y player joined or similar possibilities. Normally based on absolutely nothing, just big team big player. Literally have no way of knowing so what’s the point?
Fun fact: Juve also got the 4th place on the very last matchday in 2021 thanks to a suicide from Naples (which lost to 16th~ Verona at home LOL) otherwise they would have ended in 5th place
In the same sense, if Messi had joined City when he had the chance, he would've probably shattered the debate even earlier
City never agreed terms with Juventus, the idea that he turned down City is not true. City never agreed to Juventus's demands in the first place.
CR7 himself said that he was very close to signing with City until SAF called him.
Came back to the club. Wanted higher standards. Called out the glazers directly. And fans turned on him to back ten hag 💀
More quotes tweeted by Romano: >Cristiano Ronaldo: “I was the best goalscorer this season, imagine beating young animals like Haaland… I’m proud. And I’ll be 39 soon!”. “I like when people doubt again about me and then I’m successfull. I don’t get affected by the criticism”. >Cristiano Ronaldo: “Saudi League is not worst than Ligue1”. “Saudi Pro League is more competitive than Ligue1, I can say that after one year spent there”. “We are better than French league already now”.
I'd love to see the full interview on this one. Seems like it be funny lol so much context missing with just quotes alone
Feel like it'd make way more sense for people to link actual interviews on here instead of transfer update man picking a random excerpt
Why Ligue 1 though ?
"Weakest" Of the "top 5" Leagues so if you Want to prob your league or argue that youre among the best its the first domino. Also why we used to see more Liga Nos vs Ligue 1 debate that with the others.
And a Portuguese isn't going to talk down Liga Nos either
He already said that saudi league is better than the portuguese
Ligue 1 is 6th the last time I checked...
Too bad you checked years ago
Ligue 1 isn't top 5 anymore
Bro is still in 2023
Hahaha just saw, France pushed back up. Guess they are top 5 again.
France: why he say fuck me for? Saudis can eat a dick. I am willing to believe the top teams of the saudi league are somewhat above the worst teams of league 1, but overall there probably aren't enough good teams and many of the top players in those good saudi teams aren't trying that hard anyway. Love Ronaldo. Very bothered by his ambassadorship to this league but I'd probably do the same if no one took me in Europe and I got eye watering money. Be a god or be a substitute player? Probably an easy choice for him.
I usually hate it when Messi fans make everything Ronaldo says about Messi but it’s pretty clear what he’s trying to do here
I mean, he could have talked about the MLS and the statement would even hold more ground. I think it is pretty clear that he is trying to compare the Saudi League to the top leagues (however delusional that would be) not making a dig at Messi.
>he could have talked about the MLS and the statement would even hold more ground He already said Saudi League is better than MLS even though the reporter didn't ask lol
Stop chatting shit, the reporter literally DID ask him. How can you say this with a straight face when there’s literally a video of the whole thing happening.
Qatar vs Saudi
I think he forgot that Messi had left psg
His performances at 39 are impressive but he’s in like a 60th ranked league he needs to calm down
Wonder how much he gets paid to say that shit. We say it’s his ego justifying it but maybe it’s somebody’s check hitting for the reason he’s saying it.
I still vividly remember the 180 from United fans when he decided to go to United instead of City. It was like ‘rapist city signed a rapist’ to ‘he’s coming home’
I was pissed at first, then I remembered Alexis Sanchez….
Goldbridge having to upload the “Ronaldo is a DISGRACE!” and “Ronaldo signs for United!!!” videos back to back was actual gold.
lol there was a 180 from the city fans in the other direction too
Most City fans were really against this signing. Some people were happy to take him, but a lot of us looked at his baggage (personality & assault) as disruptive and problematic. Had friends tell me they would take a break from supporting the club while he was at the club because they couldn't reconcile their support with him being the face of the club.
Reddit is far from everyone, but the city sub wasn't exactly [against] (https://www.reddit.com/r/MCFC/comments/pc8oum/breaking_mancity_will_make_a_30m_offer_for/) it.
Yeah, lots of people were excited. For a lot of people who didn't care about the assault it was like a Teves 2.0 and they were preparing the 2nd Welcome to Manchester sign. It didn't happen and they looking at the drama that followed it, I think we all know we dodged a bullet.
There wouldn't have been any drama because Ronaldo would've done better with City instead of dealing with ETH.
>Had friends tell me they would take a break from supporting the club while he was at the club because they couldn't reconcile their support with him being the face of the club. So that's where y'all draw the line? There must be like 115 better reasons.
That’s worse than rape??
Yeah being accused of cheating in football is totallly worse than giving millions to a rapist
Somewhat but not as much. At that point of time missing out on Ronaldo would not have been massive, which it wasn't. And it was clear he needed a matching if not better financial offer to go back to his club, where he transformed into a legend. As opposed to their rival. You can't argue with that.
He also said Saudi league > French league: [https://x.com/fabrizioromano/status/1748371184188539123?s=61&t=9FtlVQQA-LoQ-d3Y0zop-Q](https://x.com/fabrizioromano/status/1748371184188539123?s=61&t=9ftlvqqa-loq-d3y0zop-q)
Bodied psg Edit: In all seriousness, man is an ambassador for the Saudi league. He's probably required to say shit like this
At this point, I feel like it should be obvious to some people...
Nobody rates the french league.
We're all thinking it, Ronaldo just said it
Whoever is thinking that is delusional
Even he doesn't believe that
What's the opposite of Factos👍🏻👀?
Lies 👎😣
Lactose!!
Perfecto 👍
Mentos 👎👃
He's mad because Lyon eliminated him twice of the UCL
All 5 actual PSG supporters on this reddit punching air rn
I don’t think they use Reddit. They have time to protest in front of Neymar’s house on a random Tuesday
The man is in despair
Both absolutely suck ass, I always laugh when people say Ligue1 is top 5
All I see is facts
Factual information
I support City and Tuchel’s Chelsea outplayed them by a mile that final game. That said, this is a normal statement, not sure how people hate ronaldo for this per se.
I think he meant when they lost to Madrid maybe
Fuck you too Ronnie but this genuinely made me laugh
Same hahahahhaa
I wish Cristiano Ronaldo would've signed for Manchester City before going to Manchester United his second time. He's a true professional and a great player, and I feel confident that he would've been great in a Guardiola side. Who knows, maybe he would've been the difference in City winning the CL two years ago.
They’ve played some of the best football I’ve ever seen in my life
> they probably deserved it two years ago Nobody 'deserves' to win a game but if you REALLY wanna pick a team that deserved a win that day, it would be Chelsea. Created the better chances, defended better and consistently denied any clear scoring opportunities.
I think he’s talking season in general, not just that final
Probably was talking about the season rather than just the final.
Why are Chelsea fans so sensitive?
And concussed key players better
Ronaldo: gives rivals a compliment This sub: explodes
Thanks the other GOAT, I always rated you when you're not on my bias list.
If by two years ago he means Chelsea, that's complete BS. Chelsea outplayed City in the final. City only threatened goal a couple of times all match. Puli missed a sitter or it would have been 2-0. City had no answer for Chelsea's setup and playing with no holding mid failed to give them the offensive edge they sought and instead made them extremely vulnerable. That match was no anomaly. Chelsea were the best squad in the Spring of 2021, dumping Real Madrid out of the CL (along with Atletico) and beating City twice in the run up to the CL final. At that point in time they were better than city and the CL final was in keeping with that.
Yeah druing that period, Chelsea had City number. They were so solid in defense and were. the best team in Europe. I was surprised that City were regarded as favorites before the final
Yeah, no way they deserved that lmao
Yeah that Chelsea team was insanely organized. Absolutely dominated Madrid and Atleti.
Kante was a one man midfield, no team could handle his intensity
He prolly mean city was best team in europe at that time and deserved to win it but chelsea did play so much better that day
Chelsea beat City 3 times in a span of the month, including that CL final. Is it really just "better on that day" when it happens 3 times in such a short period of time?
I meant through out the season
It could be what he meant. And if it is then he'd be completely wrong for the reasons I stated. Chelsea were not only better than City on that day, they were clearly better than City at that time. They were better than anyone at that time. I miss those days lol. But I am not a fan of revisionist history.
I personally wont agree as city did win pl that season and I may be biased but both teams were super dangerous at that time. Very interesting final
I don't disagree that City were better than Chelsea over the season. But that wasn't even part of the discussion. I chose my words carefully.
Yeah, i dont think it matters now both team won and just hope better times ahead for both clubs
Chelsea were not better than City that season. That's ridiculous.
Never said they were. Your reading skills are poor. Chelsea were the best team in Europe at that time is what I said. Meaning Spring of 2021.
I would even say that the final was decided as soon as the second match between them ended. Chelsea had the psychological advantage, and City -at least until they finally broke it last season- had always suffered mental collapses and chokes in Europe. The final started 0,5 - 0 for Chelsea, and it was always closer to a 2-0, 3-0, than to a 1-1.
Also at that moment , Chelsea were the most effective team under Tuchel and he came when Lampard got fire. Took Chelsea from pretty much mid table to a 3rd place finish. In addition to that Chelsea at that time not just have a very solid starting 11 but a also a very solid bench that were very competitive. Plus Tuchel on Chelses was severely underrated. Took Chelsea to the FA cup finals and Carabao cup finals that they lost to Liverpool in penalties, lost against Madrid cuz of Rodrygo last min goal and Benzema goal on extra time , and still got to Top 4 in Premier League with all the problems surrounding Chelsea cuz Abromovic was russian and war things.
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Kante was insane and deserved to be Top 3 with Lewandowski and Messi. Jorginho is good but Kante was massive against Real Madrid and City. He literally run for the whole 90 minutes non stop.
Tuchel's setup in those 3 games was superb against City. Really thought he would build on that with a full window but things seemed to fall off quickly by the end.
i always think fergie and man utd shouldve done more to get Pep.i know fergie was courting him but Pep wanted a year off.Maybe a golden handshake to come in when he was ready....
You can hate them as a United fan, but they're playing attractive football and it's enjoyable to watch.
So was he asked about this or is he just trying to piss off united again?
He was asked again
Was the question, "which Manchester club do you like more?"
You really think Ronaldo calls a journalist to say stuff like this?
Idk ask Piers Morgan
Came here to see all the salt 🍿
Can you imagine pep coaching Ronaldo and it went well? That would’ve been amazing
City didn’t deserve shit against us
I mean he isn't wrong
If he means the Chelsea game that's nonsense, we deserved that UCL 100%. Completely outplayed them in the final and the defense all campaign was incredible.
I agree with the initial statement but Man city did not deserve to win the 2021 UCL lmao. Chelsea were clearly better.
sportwashing recognizes sportwashing
Game recognise game.
Blud is out for blood
GOAT . God dammit Sir Alex Ferguson 🤬
I’m telling you. Ronaldo was fucking close to signing for them but fell for the United nostalgia. He is human after all.
No Ronaldo we deserved to win the CL 2 years ago. We were incredibly under Tuchel that season. We should have been 2 or 3 up in first half too.
Yeah, mancity were shit in that final. I don't even think they created a single clear chance that day. If werner could finish, it would have been an embarrassing scoreline.
I think he's speaking more to the overall quality of the team rather than the performance on the day
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I had to double check the first quote, no way lmao
What he should have said is that Inter deserved more in that final and that City got a little bit lucky
> they probably deserved it two years ago. If N'Golo Kante weren't fit that day, they would have won two years ago.
Think the word rival is really misunderstood, especially in sports, your rival isn’t your enemy or nemesis, they’re a person or thing you’re competing against yes, but for them to even your rival they need to actually stack up, be as superior as you, so there is a desire in wanting to see your rival thrive and even acknowledging when they’re the better, no one wants to compete or compare to a rival that isn’t in form. Great to see Ronaldo applies this.
Ronaldo to City here we go....
The chances we had in that final could've led to a battering, if we knew how to finish. City didn't really threaten until KDB went off injured in the second half, but it never looked like they were ever gonna score even then, apart from that Mahrez chance at the death. City didn't deserve shit in that final. If, for whatever reason, he means the following year, they didn't deserve it then either. Real were on a mad one that year. No one was stopping them and their comebacks, and no one deserved it more than them.
Where treble?
You've probably never even set foot in Manchester. Gtfo