No slowing down at all

“We are not slowing down!”, after a hat-trick against Abha club in Al-Nassr’s 8-0 victory, Cristiano Ronaldo posted a status on page X. Along with it were 3 photos of him. and teammates celebrate the goal, with the speedboat symbol. Maybe Ronaldo wanted to talk about his team, but it was also a statement for himself.

At the age of 39, when many other players have retired with great bodies, Ronaldo still maintains the excellent physical condition and physique of an athlete. That is not surprising when people look back at the efforts, hard work, discipline and professionalism that Ronaldo has kept for himself – and forced on his eldest son Cristiano Ronaldo Jr.

Ronaldo is not the oldest athlete still competing in sports in general, or a football player in particular, but not everyone can do it to maintain top form through scoring goals.

Nearing the age of 38, Ronaldo left Europe to go to Saudi Arabia to play football. Many comments talked about the end, about the choice “full of money”, while Lionel Messi was still in the Champions League, still in Europe and won the world championship with the Argentina team. But then a few months later, Messi himself also left Europe to come to America, where life also started with a rosy color – like the colors of the Inter Miami club, before difficulties came after less than a year. .

Messi has not lost his goal-scoring instinct or skills, but injuries have hit him more often, at the age of 36. And he can also play football with friends who have been with him for many years in Barcelona. Ronaldo rarely has to stop playing due to injury, but mainly for sideline events that lead to suspensions.

Mentioning Ronaldo and Messi is not to compare, compare or assert who is better than the other, but to emphasize that Ronaldo’s persistence and ambition can help him have many more years. Maybe he won’t reach the age of 57 like Japanese football legend Kazu Miura, who is still playing, but, until the end, what makes Ronaldo famous will still be his goals.

More sublimation after age 30

Coming back with a hat-trick against Abha earlier this month, it was the second consecutive match Ronaldo scored 3 goals, not to mention 2 assists before being taken off when the score was 5-0. 2 free kicks, 1 skillful shot. That was the 65th hat-trick of his career (8 more hat-tricks than Messi), the 35th hat-trick since turning 30, and the 62nd and 63rd free-kick goals in his career.

Is Ronaldo fighting time, or has time not been able to overcome his will? “He wants to score goals, wants to break all records and always wants to win,” former Juventus teammate Giorgio Chiellini said on the FIFA website.

Speaking of records, CR7 is facing something that no player has ever done in history – winning the title of top scorer in 4 different tournaments. A very real possibility when Ronaldo now has 29 goals in the Saudi Pro League this season, 7 more goals than Alesandar Mitrovic – the Al-Hilal striker who had to take 6 weeks off due to injury when there were 8 rounds left in the season.

Stories about Ronaldo’s difficult past can now be easily read. And basically, that is still the source of motivation and motivation for him to remind himself not to stop. “Most of the time, I inspire myself. I encourage myself,” Ronaldo once said in an interview.

Ronaldo is a very unique personality, like Jose Mourinho and some other names in world football. Life has ups and downs, sometimes success and sometimes failure on the field, but for people like them, when they become public figures, they are forced to face all kinds of pressure. Like “if you can’t stand the pressure, don’t be there”.

Off-field motivation

Ronaldo has been and will be fighting against time, still facing criticism and comments from anti-fans every day, but in his parallel life on the field, he always does meaningful things for society. festival.

When not training or being with his family, Cristiano always makes charity work a top focus. He is an ambassador for three major charities, Save the Children, Unicef and World Vision, and has spoken out for many others.

He sold his 2013 Golden Ball, raising more than $800,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation to help children with serious illnesses. He also sold the 2011 European Golden Shoe award for scoring 40 goals under Jose Mourinho, raising $1.6 million to build schools in war-torn Gaza.

Ronaldo and his agent Jorge Mendes then donated $1.35 million to Portugal’s activities during the coronavirus pandemic and asked the Portuguese team to donate 50% of their prize money from the EURO 2020 qualifiers. to help people with COVID-19.

Ronaldo always brings great influence wherever he goes. For example, when it came to Al-Nassr (which means “Victory” in Arabic), the club’s Instagram page grew from 800,000 followers to more than 14 million.

Ronaldo was, is and will remain as talented and divisive as ever. He’s still a perfectionist and a demanding teammate – and doesn’t seem to have any motivation to change that, admitting: “I don’t mind people hating me, because that motivates me.” ”.

One day, the world will stir when Ronaldo decides to retire. But not today.