Annus Horribilis: Cristiano Ronaldo's 2022

“1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure. In the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondents, it has turned out to be an 'Annus Horribilis'. I suspect that I am not alone in thinking it so…” – Queen Elizabeth II

The late Queen Elizabeth II proclaimed this in her speech marking the 40th anniversary of her accession to the throne. This was referring to 1992 and how it was a smorgasbord of royal scandals, controversies, and tragedies. There was a fire at Windsor Castle, her children had relationships end, and Princess Diana was beginning to make her feelings on the Royal family known in a book titled Diana: Her True Story, a tell-all book that gave colour to her misery when living as a full time royal (spoiler: tell-alls don’t go out of fashion as you’ll see later)

This speech was notable because it was a figure that many view as infallible or perfect with a perfect life, acknowledging that they have experienced hardship or have been unhappy. It’s a pulling back of the curtain that the public can’t help but take interest in, talk about, read about, and write about. Similarly, another monarch has seemed to have his own “annus horribilis”. A monarch of football, specifically.

Cristiano Ronaldo. In his story, everything seems to go his way.

In many ways, Ronaldo is the perfect example of a Galáctico. A player who wins by sheer force of their own brilliance. Not through the positional play of Barca, not with tireless efforts of gegenpressing found at Bayern, but sheer footballing brilliance in the key moments. And Ronaldo has had many, many moments in his career where he displayed his brilliance. That’s why he has as many Balon d’Ors, UCLs and League titles as he does.

But Ronaldo is no longer a Galactico of Real Madrid. He’s not even a Red Devil of Manchester United. At the time of writing, he isn’t employed by any club. How did it get to this?

If I may borrow the words of Her Majesty, 2022 is not a year on which Ronaldo shall look back with undiluted pleasure…

Part 1 - Manchester United

To call Manchester United a top contender for trophies these days, would be like calling Facebook the best social media platform. Both statements would probably and rightfully be met with “Yeah, maybe a decade or so ago”

Cristiano walked back into his former club thinking it was the same as it was when he left it. It wasn’t. Far, far from it. In January, the club had just appointed Ralf Ragnick as a technical “consultant”, meant to advise the club on how to restructure its footballing institutions to compete with their great English and European rivals. Oh, and also the temporary first team manager.

Ragnick was, for lack of a better word, dropped in the shit. He had to steer a woefully unbalanced team with zero confidence to a top 4 finish and compete for trophies (despite not having held a managerial position for some time), whilst advising a football club on how to be better at being a football club. It is no wonder at all why this led to Manchester United’s worst ever Premier League finish, with a goal difference of exactly 0.

In some twisted way, this season was shaping up to further validate Ronaldo’s legacy. He finished the season with a very respectable 18 goals in the league, 5 behind top scoring duo Son Heung-Min and Mohammed Salah. The great Cristiano Ronaldo, even when he is in a poor side, still manages to show his brilliance at an age where many greats would have been long into their retirement. A fine French wine footballer, getting better with age. Infallible as ever.

What also must be mentioned is the loss of his son, Angel. A horrible tragedy which no parent should ever suffer. A tragedy that makes all this football talk seem pretty insignificant. And even then, mere days after, he would return to Premier League action, a true show of his strong character and unmatched mentality.

In the summer and even before the season ended, rumours were circulating that Ronaldo wanted to leave Old Trafford for the second time in his career. “He did all he could, but the club had let him down” was the popular sentiment among football commentators and fans.

Then along came Erik Ten Hag.

Part 2 - Erik Ten Hag

Mr Ten Hag was here to stamp his authority from the word go. In pre-season interviews and matches, he played down the media buzz around Ronaldo. He gave Ronaldo his due praise, but reinforced the need for team spirit and the collective mentality that had eluded the club since Sir Alex left.

Personal issues kept Ronaldo from attending United’s pre-season tour abroad. But in a game against Real Mallorca, Ronaldo and a few other United teammates left the stadium before the final whistle. This wouldn’t fly with the Dutchman. He branded Ronaldo and others’ actions as “unacceptable”. A surprising and refreshing statement given the fact that player power had long dominated the club for many years. This really set the scene for Ten Hag and Ronaldo’s relationship going forward. The unstoppable force vs the immovable object. For the first time in a long, long time. Ronaldo would have to bend or break.

United had a disastrous start to the season. 2 losses in a row, including a humiliating 4-0 loss to Brentford. It seemed that this job would be harder than even the most cynical fans would’ve thought. United’s next game was Liverpool, which many thought would be a killing blow to United’s season before it even really started.

Ronaldo was dropped. Possibly the best big game player of all time was dropped in a big game for United, and yet, it worked. United beat Liverpool 2-1 in a spirited match at Old Trafford, where it seemed that things might finally be starting to click for Ten Hag.

Southampton, dropped, United win. Leicester, dropped, United win. ARSENAL, dropped, United win. Ronaldo’s loss was United’s gain. Energetic, spirited and youthful exuberance is what saved United from their early rut, 3 words you wouldn’t label Ronaldo with. Ronaldo didn’t look happy on the bench. Something had to give.

Part 3 - Tottenham

On the 20th of October, United beat Tottenham at home 2-0. Though the score line doesn’t scream “United’s best performance in years”, that’s exactly what it was.

It was total footballing domination from start to finish. United pressed high, committed men forward, and had the defensive discipline to keep Son and Kane quiet and unimpactful. All of this happened with Ronaldo on the bench (shock).

This is where the turning point occurred. The true nail in the coffin.

Ronaldo was seen walking down the tunnel in the closing minutes of the game. He looked angry. He was angry. The great Cristiano Ronaldo being reduced to an extra time substitution against a big 6 side? To him this was heresy. He refused to be debased like this.

Ten Hag, once again, didn’t let Ronaldo’s behaviour overshadow the occasion. “We will deal with that tomorrow”, he said. “I want to focus on this team. It was a magnificent performance”. Ten Hag did not lie. He definitely did deal with Ronaldo. He banned him from the matchday squad for the Chelsea game and made him train away from the squad. A figurative and literal statement that selfishness would not be welcome at his United.

The Chelsea game spelled out United’s growing resilience under Ten Hag. Chelsea were awarded a late penalty and scored it after a tightly contested game at Stamford Bridge. The United of years past would have crumbled or fizzled out after such a setback. But we saw the United of old, as Casemiro headed in a last-minute equalizer that clawed a point back. The United of old, the never say die attitude that cemented them as a footballing giant.

This was displayed again in the Fulham game just before the World Cup. Rising star Alejandro Garnacho netted a last-minute winner. Another star fresh off the Carrington production line putting his name up in lights and fighting until the very end. A happy send off before the World Cup. The season was finally up and running.

What could possibly go wrong now?

Part 4 - The Interview

Mere hours after United’s thrilling victory against Fulham, none other than Piers Morgan announced that he had conducted a tell-all, bombshell interview with Cristiano, which would shed light on his frustrations with the club and Ten Hag.

Timing is everything in football. Having scored over 800 career goals, Ronaldo knows this better than most. Yet the timing of this interview had such a petty feel to it. Off the back of a fantastic win, in which an academy player netted a last minute winner, somebody decided that now was the best time to put attention back to Ronaldo. With all due respect to Ten Hag, he couldn’t stop this from overshadowing United’s win. This would dominate discussions and create a media circus around the club for the immediate future.

“The coach doesn’t have respect for me.. If you don’t have respect for me, I’m never going to have respect for you”. He spoke about the Glazers and the stagnation under them, but the quotes about Erik Ten Hag said the most. Ronaldo couldn’t take not being the “main guy” anymore. He would rather undermine his own club and manager than accept that his time as an undisputed starter in top level football was over.

The interview did exactly what he wanted it to do, and it also didn’t. He got his move away from United, with a mutual contract termination announced by the club days after. But yet it also put Ronaldo under a heavy amount of scrutiny, especially from his own fanbase. Ronaldo had brought yet another media circus to the club, publicly shaming the new manager, all for the sake of a move away because he can’t handle not being the main man. It was unnecessary, childish, and above all else, quite sad. A legend of the club going out in such bad faith. These days, you don’t hear “Viva Ronaldo” bellowing from the Stretford End. All that’s left of Ronaldo at United now, is a new chant:

I don’t care about Ronny

Ronny doesn’t care about me

All I care about

is MUFC

Part 5 – The World Cup

Qatar 2022 was a World Cup defined by narratives and stories. Qatar’s controversial bid and their questionable human rights record for LGBT+ people, women, journalists etc is something that you can find information on elsewhere.

In a purely footballing sense, it was a sensational World Cup. Louis Van Gaal’s last managerial hurrah, a chance for Southgate to finally go all the way after the Euros disaster, Brazil’s golden generation coming to the boil and other stories were all discussed with great enthusiasm among fans.

However, what seemed to be the biggest footballing narrative was the fact that this would be both Ronaldo and Messi’s last World Cup. This was their final chance to get the one trophy that had eluded them their entire careers. The trophy to cement either of them as the GOAT.

Portugal topped their group, only losing to South Korea in a dead rubber match when they had already qualified. Argentina suffered a shock loss to Saudi Arabia in their first game, but they would soon restore order and finish top of their group too.

They both made it to the Quarter Finals. Argentina edge past the Netherlands on penalties.

Portugal lose to Morocco.

It was all so quick. Just like that, Ronaldo’s World Cup dreams were over. He was videoed walking down the tunnel in tears, because he knew that this was it. No more chances to make Portuguese history, to join the other immortals like Pele, Maradona, Ronaldo (the other one) who all dominated World Cups and won them.

Argentina, lead by Messi, would make it to the final. The storyline was re-written. Now, it was Messi or Mbappe. Would Messi be crowned as the king of his generation, and possibly as the king of football? Or would Kylian Mbappe be cemented as the new heir to the throne, winning a second successive World Cup.

It felt like a season finale for the 2010’s era of football. Greats like Bale, Thiago Silva, Hazard, Suarez, Cavani, Pepe, Ramos, Alves, Busquets and many more were all coming to the end of their careers. Only Messi was left. Would he finally cement himself as the undisputed GOAT, or would there be a passing of the torch to the next generation?

Messi scores a penalty, and Di Maria scores a counter attack. It was all over for France, we thought. Messi would have his day, his coronation.

Then along came Kylian. He scored a penalty late into the second half and suddenly, France were in the game again. Coman muscled Messi off the ball, carries it up to Rabiot, who gives it to Mbappe, who lays it off to Kolo Mauni, who heads it over the Argentina backline, and Mbappe hits the sweetest of volleys to level the game. Wow.

Extra time came. Argentina get a break, and Messi scores the cutback. He would not let this moment slips through his fingers. This would not be another Brazil in 2014. Not tonight.

Mbappe once again had his say. France were awarded another penalty. He stepped up and levelled things up yet again. Getting his hattrick and getting France back in it. It truly was the master vs the apprentice.

Penalties came, and of course the two scored their respective penalties. Unfortunately for France and Mbappe, the same could not be said about his teammates. Montiel, the right back, stepped up to potentially win the World Cup for Argentina. He went left. Lloris went right. That was it.

The debates were all over. Messi, immortal at last. He finally cemented his place among the gods.

“Lionel Messi has conquered his final peak. Lionel Messi has shaken hands with paradise. The little boy from Rosario, Santa Fe, has just pitched up in heaven. He climbs into a galaxy of his own. He has his crowning moment.

He was beautiful. He was the point of difference. He has always been, the point of difference.”

Peter Drury, 2022

Conclusion

And yet, Ronaldo sits at home. His eternal war with Messi was over, and he didn’t even get to fight the final battle. A year filled with setbacks, controversies and failings, ended with his biggest rival being crowned the GOAT. Obviously this was outside of his control, his Portugal teammates and manager hold the blame too. But in a year where Ronaldo was shrouded in a cloud of negativity, this felt like another setback, another load of disrespect loaded onto a legend of the game.

Ronaldo will be fine. His legacy will remain untouched by 99% of those that come after him. But this year must remind us that everyone has an “Annus Horribilis”, even the greats.