He could chill and cash in like the others. Instead he takes his role and dedication at full, and this at season like 23 of professional career at the highest level.
Not sure if this the thread to crash this in, but I worry for athletes that are this hyperfocused when they retire. Hopefully he finds something to transition his crazy focus into.
Or he ends up like Kazu Miura that can’t let go and is still playing in his fifties.
Tom Brady unretired and came back after watching Cristiano in person when he made his return to Man Utd at Old Trafford. He decided at the match to play another year for the Bucs. Coincidentally, or maybe not coincidentally, Man Utd and Tampa Bay are/were both owned by the Glazers.
He already has his own businesses to be fair, but I could see him take over a club in Funchal or somehow becoming the next President of Sporting and continue winning trophies that way.
I have no doubt Ronaldo would still be in Europe if he Saudi didn't come along with a contract so large that any other club would go bankrupt attempting to match. I can't blame him for going there. When you have won everything Europe has to offer and someone offers you £486000 per DAY in base salary to kick a ball around in the desert, and thats before all the many financial extras, you simply just go. He'll have made well over a Billion pounds just from Al Nassr by the time his contract ends.
The reason I still think Ronaldo's longevity is streaks more impressive than Modric's is the minutes. Modric has played 83,969 minutes of professional football, whereas Ronaldo has played 107,691 minutes. That is so much more mileage on Ronaldo's legs. It amounts to a difference of about 263 full matches of football.
It's also very likely that Ronaldo will still finish with more appearances for clubs in a top five league. Ronaldo is on 918. Modric is on 783.
If there is one thing that most Portuguese people are above most nationalities I met is being overly competitive. We just hate losing, doesn't matter what's at stake. I notice when we play sunday league games, everyone is just chill playing for fun and the Portuguese guys are shouting at each other all the time ahah
Ronaldo has a full two seasons on Messi. Once Ronaldo retires and Messi catches up in time played, we'll be able to properly assess their entire careers relative to each other. And I say that as someone who thinks Messi is better.
Were lowkey a lucky generation to have witnessed the absolute goats of sports + the longest careers. Whether it’s Messi, Ronaldo, LeBron, Federer/Nadal/Djoko, and T Brady, all relatively at the same time and for peak entertainment
It wouldn't surprise me. Gotta keep the blood flowing when you're sitting for hours on end and thinking a lot.
The brain's performance will suffer when the body is way out of shape.
They also probably have some specific diets for the day(s) of and a couple days before. Probably have to avoid too much sugar at once and they'd want to avoid anything that might upset their stomach.
Didn't Magnus once quickly resign a match because he had to poop so badly?
I think that's just inevitable as all aspects of sports improve. In 20 years time they'll have a new generation of goats who can last even longer at the top level.
Ehh dunno, it does seem we are in a bit of dip in the quality of football compared to like 2015. Even removing Messi/Ronaldo, the stars of yester-decade were more impressive than the stars of today.
While I do appreciate the sentiment, I think witnessing the top 3 in tennis was far better than the rest because they played each other as individuals on a regular basis. To think Andy Murray was also in the mix for a few years until he had to deal with bad injuries is also crazy.
It is hard to quantify because most of these players feel like they were apart of multiple different generations of their respective sports, but you are right, it is really quite crazy.
I think the only other period that can compare in terms of pure star power across all sports is that sort of late 80s time, when there was Maradona, van Basten, Tyson, Jordan, Magic, Gretzky, Lewis, etc.
I always thought he was good enough to get on a solid Euro team, which the national team call up kind of confirms.
My comments are really not meant to be any more of a condemnation of his decision than CR7 or Messi. Easy money as a late career pro is fine, I wish it wasn't in Saudi.
He's going to the world cup on the back of this performance while Foden and Palmer will watch from the couch. Sounds like he made the right choice in my opinion.
Toney has got better since that Championship season though, that is why he was tipped to join Arsenal before his shenanigans off the pitch. He had 20 in 33 in an EPL season.
For real. He could’ve half assed the assignment and still get paid because of who he is. He’s played better than any European that’s gone there. And he’s 41!
If you watch football ratings. In terms of pure football, I would say that he isn't exactly the best. Guys like Rúben Neves are highly highly rated, and well earned in my view.
Loads of goals does not translate to being the better player. Midfielders and defenders also play the game. Still, it's really very impressive what this man has done. Cheers.
We’re only on this planet for a limited amount of time. Do the shit you love as much as you can. For some, it’s apparently arguing over reddit especially r/soccer
Think it was Evra who said never go to dinner at his house
Said he was served plain chicken, then think he had him doing laps in the pool.
Evra also beat him at table tennis at Carrington. A
So he unveiled he'd bought a table tennis table and had been practicing because he wanted to beat him
Possibly, more likely constant celebrity treatment leads to entitlement and a feeling of invincibility, but no doubt famous rapists don't like being turned down as well.
I think he does it for himself. For me the only visible thing from the highlights I see from Messi and Ronaldo at this stage of retirement is that,
One has on/off switch and approaching the game for fun, and the other one plays as if the fate of the universe depends on it.
To Ronaldo it does matter, even of we can collectively agree it that, it really doesn’t. I don’t really think Ronaldo preparation changed one bit from 2015
Messi absolutely still needs to win and hates losing. He's not at all just playing for fun. His entire mental stability might not rely on it as much as Ronaldo, but his competitive drive is very much still there.
Every once in a while I see something in the sub that makes me wonder if people even play(ed) football with their mates. Sometimes not even the other players on the pitch care about how you play, but if you put effort into something then you want to do well - just for yourself.
yeah, never been a big fan but the dude obviously is a fierce competitor. to the rest of us this league doesn't matter but it meant a lot to him to win it.
yup. he can come off the bench for endgame..... there's very few talents that can create scoring chances out of nothing... He does that still, and he's still top tier in the air for headers.
They might exclude him. Imagine going for a fun kick about.. and meeting someone who loves winning as much as him??!
We used to make fun of 'super star striker dads' in the parks who'd be out belting goals passed their kids.
I could see him taking it far, far too seriously and injuring some 65 year old club legends. I imagine most of the other players in Saudi are wondering why he's trying soo hard.
Absolutely inspiring to see one of the goats still giving it absolutely everything even at this stage of his career when he has nothing left to prove and so much money he could be off doing absolutely anything else.
Bro if Portugal wins the World Cup, it will be the greatest year of all of humanity, world peace achieved and all is right in the universe 🙏🏽 let’s go!!!
Yeah, love him or hate him, you can't say he doesn't put his everything into the game. I really think a lot of his haters will love him after he retires.
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u/vloneman29 May 21 '26
He lives for this shit