5 Greatest Performance From Cristiano Ronaldo

Love him or hate him, you can’t deny Cristiano Ronaldo is damn good at football, boasting of a legacy that is only surpassed by few, if any footballer. Across the span of his career, we have seen this man evolve from the typical flank hogging winger, to be a devastating presence in front of goal.

It’s no coincidence, he has performed at a world class level everywhere he has been (except perhaps sporting c.p hehe), from the young superstar with all the talent in the world at Manchester United, to the more matured maestro at Real Madrid, to become an aged predator at Juventus and currently proving his world class status with Saudis premier league giants Al-Nassr.

Given the number of world classes he has had over the span of his stellar career, finding his best 5 performances may be a tough task but we’ll do our best to rate the 5 greatest performance from this wizard.

5.) Vs Manchester United 2003: when it was announced that Sporting were hosting Manchester United for a friendly at the inauguration at their newly built stadium, very few could have predicted what an 18 year old Ronaldo was going to do against United. Hungry, determined to prove himself against a top European team, Ronaldo played his heart out against United. Constantly threatened United full backs and center backs, the United squad couldn’t believe what they were seeing, who’s this lanky kid and why couldn’t anyone seem to stop him? Ronaldo terrorized the United team so much that, after the match the players urged their them manager Sir Alex Ferguson to sign the youngster, although the manager having been impressed by Ronaldo’s performance had his own plans to sign the kid. United would go on to announce the signature of young Ronaldo the next month at a record breaking fee for a teenager.

4.) Vs Barcelona, Copa Del Rey final 2011: The beginning of the end of Guardiola’s Barcelona perhaps. Having been kicked out of the Uefa Champions league by their bitter rivals and losing the league title to them, Real Madrid felt they had a point to prove against Barcelona in the Copa Del Rey final, and who best to prove the point if not Cristiano Ronaldo. Having been deployed in an unusual No.9 position, Ronaldo took to the positions like a dolphin to the ocean. Terrorizing Barcelona backline all night with his runs in behind, it was obviously a matter of time before he would score in the match, and score he did in the first half of the added time. Real Madrid would go on to win with the Ronaldo getting the solitary goal. Point proven indeed!

3.) Vs Spain, World Cup 2018: Fresh off winning the Uefa Champions league with Real Madrid for a record 3rd consecutive time, Ronaldo was determined to deliver his country their first ever World Cup trophy, and what better way to prove this than put up a stellar performance against European giants Spain, and did he put up a stellar performance. 4 minutes into the game, Ronaldo won a penalty, tricking his Real Madrid teammate Nacho into tripping him inside the box. Ronaldo took the penalty and sent the goalkeeper the wrong way to give his team the lead early into the game. Diego Costa equalized for Spain shortly after to make the game all square. Shortly after, perhaps due to a bit of fortune, Ronaldo put Portugal back in front, his shot from the edge of the box had been mishandled by David De Gea and had gone in. Spain weren’t done, they equalized through Diego Costa again and shortly got the lead through and audacious strike by Nacho. Spain we’re heading for the 3 points it seemed, that what’s everyone thought, only one man didn’t think so, Cristiano Ronaldo. In the 87th minutes, Pique tripped Ronaldo at the tip of the box, Ronaldo dusted himself up and steadied himself to take the free kick. Setting the ball down, taking a few steps back, pulling his shorts up to show his impressive thighs, Ronaldo took a deep breath and converted the free kick, bending it pass Spain wall and David De Gea, completing an hattrick in the process and one of the greatest World Cup performance of all time. Portugal would go on to draw the game, thanks to their star man.

2.) Vs Sweden, World Cup Playoffs 2nd leg 2013: Having failed to qualify for the World Cup through the normal qualification process and needing to win the playoffs to enter the World Cup, Portugal needed to seal their win against Sweden, after having won the first leg 1-0 at Portugal, thanks to a goal from of course Cristiano Ronaldo. But work wasn’t done, another 90 minutes was still in front of Portugal, the game started off with Ronaldo getting the first goal of the 2nd leg, it was going to a smooth ride it seemed for Portugal, but Zlatan Ibrahimovic had other plans, 2 quick fire goals in the 2nd half from him, meant Portugal lost any sort of advantage they had. With the momentum behind them, Sweden started to gain the upper hand in the tie, till Cristiano Ronaldo said otherwise. A brilliant phase of play saw Ronaldo get the ball behind the defence and from a tight angle he buried it past the goalkeeper, few minutes later Ronaldo found himself behind the defense again with only the goalkeeper to beat, he took the ball round the goalie and buried it into the net, the advantage had been restored by Portugal’s main man. The Swede’s had no response to Ronaldo performance, leading to Portugal qualifying for the World Cup.

1.) Vs Athletico Madrid, UCL Round of 16 2nd Leg 2019: One of the greatest comeback we’ve witnessed in the Champions League and at the heart of it one man, Cristiano Ronaldo. Having lost the first leg at Wanda Metropolitano 2-0, Juventus needed something special to turn it round in the 2nd leg, and luckily for them they had Cristiano Ronaldo. Having been brought specifically by the Bianconeri to win them the UCL, crashing out in the round of 16 was going to be really bad for Ronaldo. Having also doing some talking off the pitch by saying he had 5 Champions League to Athletico Madrid 0, he had to do some talking on the pitch also, and boy did the walk the talk. An highly spirited from Juventus in general, they were the better team all night, but they was always going to be one man making the difference, his first goal of the night came from a towering header, to give his team some hope of a comeback. Few mins into the 2nd half, the comeback was made, when he scored yet another goal, that had to be confirmed by the goal line technology. Ronaldo smelt blood and he was planning to go all in. Looking like the match was headed to the extra time, Juventus were handed a penalty, and who else but Mr Champions League to take it. Ronaldo converted the penalty to complete the turnaround and one of the greatest performance ever seen by a footballer.