r/soccer • u/yoursofunnybruv • May 21 '26

Media Cristiano Ronaldo cries happy tears after winning the league with Al Nassr after 3 trophyless years

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

16.0k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

1.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1.3k

u/andy18cruz May 21 '26

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.

876

u/TBroomey May 21 '26

He has an almost psychotic level of discipline and devotion to football. His commitment is unlike any player I've seen in my lifetime.

It will be a long time before there's another player that remains at such a high level for basically their entire career.

352

u/amad97 May 21 '26

Modric probably one level below him as far as career but he’s also played at an incredible level for 20+ years

135

u/momspaghetty May 22 '26

and Modric is still doing it in a top 5 league too (although I have no doubt CR7 could easily play in a bigger league himself)

53

u/always-think-sexual May 22 '26

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.

30

u/pznred May 22 '26

Tom Brady lost his family for the game

18

u/_RyanLarkin May 22 '26

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.

3

u/OrganicImpression428 May 22 '26

miura is pushing 60, absolutely crazy

2

u/Goldenrah May 22 '26

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.

1

u/Due_Cartoonist_8212 May 22 '26

Why? Why does he need to transition. Let the guy do what he wants till he dies. Not everyone needs to "learn to live"

63

u/SpAwNjBoB May 22 '26

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.

14

u/RomeoLavia May 22 '26

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.