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It is quite sad to see a talented footballer like Cristiano Ronaldo stumble ever closer to the end of his career: bitter, selfish and embarrassingly childish.
Portugal’s stunning loss to Morocco in the quarter-final of the 2022 FIFA World Cup could well be the final time we see Ronaldo on football’s biggest stage and considering that reality, one would have thought that a respectful and glorious exit might have been on the cards.
Instead, it has been nothing but a tournament of embarrassment for the five-time Ballon d’Or winner, as lengthy periods on the pine, an obviously frosty relationship with manager Fernando Santos and the Moroccan disaster, farewelled the Portuguese from the World Cup stage without the 37-year-old having ever lifted the greatest prize in football.
He is not alone in that sad end, with many modern English, Belgian, Spanish, German and Dutch players having lived the same fate and subsequently walked away from the game without ever having felt the sheer ecstasy of a World Cup triumph.
Argentina’s Lionel Messi (left) and Australia’s Harry Souttar battle for the ball during the FIFA World Cup round of 16 match at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar. Picture date: Saturday December 3, 2022. (Photo by Martin Rickett/PA Images via Getty Images)
However, the vast majority of those managed to depart stage left with some dignity and the fans now honour their memory thanks to the great deeds and heroics they produced on the pitch.
The same is unlikely to be said of Ronaldo, a player whose wealth, fame and a seemingly overly keen perception of self is destined to see him leave football in utter embarrassment and shame.
When a human being is pushed to the brink and placed in the most stressful of circumstances, their true character shines through.
During the World Cup of 2022 and his latest stint at Manchester United in the English Premier League, Ronaldo has shown the world quite clearly that his ability to accept his own age and subsequent football limitations is poor at best.
As father time ticks on, Ronaldo has taken to apportioning blame to anyone but himself, as his own play wanes and younger men loom as threats to his starting position.
As a player who rarely worked as hard as many others in terms of tracking back and defending, Ronaldo now has almost zero capacity to do so. Managers have identified that flaw and it is exposed most obviously when up against the best club and international teams in the world.
There should be no shame in such a realisation for the man known simply as CR7, yet rather than usher in the final days of his career with honour, grace and dignity, Ronaldo has chosen to infer that he is somehow being cruelly wronged by his managers and denied natural justice.
It appears Ronaldo wants to end his professional career on his terms and his childish protestations over the last 12 months have been embarrassing for a player who quite frankly, many thought had a lot more class and dignity.
Stomping around in a frustrated manner at Old Trafford, sooking like a petulant child after being left out of the Portugal starting eleven at the World Cup and his recent brisk exits from the pitch without thought for teammates or an awareness of the image that such decisions create for fans, reflect a completely self-centred individual.
Not that we were unaware of such a distorted image of self throughout his career. Ronaldo has described his execution of an overhead kick goal as the best he has ever seen, been openly lavish in describing his own talent, despite refusing to do the hard work that his providers have done, and in recent years has stepped from country to country in search of the biggest payday he could find.
All the while, the greatest footballer of the modern age has continued to prosper without any questions around his humility, decency and place in football history.
Millions of fans around the world are hoping that Lionel Messi wins the World Cup with Argentina in Qatar. It has evaded him for an awfully long time, yet the reality is that the squad around him does not appear to have the depth required to claim the ultimate prize.
However, the genius could well pull it off, with a fairy tale finish created by his own left foot far from impossible and the three other teams remaining in the tournament wary of his skill.
Even if Messi does not lift the trophy to cap what has been the most astonishing of careers, most of us will stand and applaud the little man as he departs the World Cup stage for the final time.
The same could not be said of Cristiano Ronaldo, a player who looks likely to have played his last World Cup amidst tears, petulance and arrogance; something many saw in him long ago.