Antonio Barilla
SENT TO DOHA
The last World Cup gives a break to a tangle of thoughts. It suspends bitterness, uncertainties, poisons. Cristiano Ronaldo focuses on Portugal, on the only medal he doesn’t have on his chest and on the eternal challenge with Messi, trying to leave out of the luxurious Al Samriya Hotel, chosen for retirement, the incurable rift with Manchester United, the frost around , the somewhat snobbish amazement of no longer seducing as before and even struggling to find suitors.
It’s not easy, the last few hours have been very hard: the fiery words against the Red Devils have left him even more alone and the blow-up removed at Old Trafford becomes the image of a written divorce. In court, even: the club has made it known that it has “initiated the appropriate measures”.
Bruno Fernandes, team-mate in Manchester and in the national team, downsizes the very cold handshake that has gone viral (“Just a joke, everything is ok between us: we wear the Portugal shirt and that counts”), but the feeling is that it is diplomacy fake. On the other hand, it is difficult to turn a blind eye if you live the reality that CR7 demolishes: «We don’t mix too much, but the story affects us: we are all part of the club» says Raphael Varane in the French training camp.
A great World Cup can give new impetus to an extraordinary career and postpone the decline, at least make it less sad. Because the monument has been wavering for some time, since that abrupt farewell to Juventus which he perhaps regrets given that he places Allegri among the best coaches he has had: brought back to Manchester by feelings, Cristiano thought he would find attention and ambitions again, instead he says he discovered a club ” immobile in time”, he harshly criticizes Rangnick’s choice, now he accuses Ten Hag of having exaggerated towards him (“The three days of suspension are a shame”), he accuses young people of not being hungry.
In the interview with Piers Morgan he compares himself to an “appetizing fruit, a strawberry”, but the facts say that he is no longer tempting: he wants the Champions League back, he demands top tier clubs, but he has found doors in his face, doubts and fears: even Sporting Lisbon, cradle and home, dropped the suggestion fearing that his size would undermine the team anyway, so the most concrete offers come from Arabia, ready to cover him with gold (“I refused 350 million”), from Australia who does not sail in gold but promises cuddles lost elsewhere and from the States where Beckham, president of Inter Miami, calls him.
The agent Jorge Mendes thinks about the near future, he only has Portugal in mind: «We have a fantastic coach and a good generation of players. I dreamed of winning the Cup, it will be very difficult but we will try».
Among the favorites he puts Messi’s Argentina, the rival, “a good guy who does great things for football, fantastic, the best I’ve seen together with Zidane”. He confides that he wants to go to dinner, he doesn’t rule out playing alongside them and imagines “their” final in Qatar: «If I beat him 3-2 with one of my goals, I’ll retire instantly».
Yet, from the tangle, Manchester resurfaces: «I don’t know what will happen, maybe it would be better for both of us if we started a new chapter. I feel great, I am convinced that if they let me, I would still score many goals. Hard to say I won’t be back, let’s see. But the fans will always be in my heart.”
Manchester also thinks it is better to separate, indeed they are overconvinced, in fact they are preparing the unilateral termination. —
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