16 March, 2010

Valladolid vs. Ronaldo

If you look closely you can see the blood just to the right of his calf



The RM match with Valladolid is still dominating the papers in Spain.  It's a case of "he did this," "he did that," I'm afraid.
I watched the match and it was a very physical battle.  Yes, Cristiano manages to attract everyone who wants the ball (mostly because he always has it), so they tend to cut him down.  Sometimes they are fair tackles and sometimes they aren't.  When he was at United opponents would chop him every match, so he should be used to it by now.  I suppose with his injury earlier this year and the surreptitious exit from the CL against Lyon, the Boy Wonder feels more pressure to succeed.  So...he cries foul more than usual. 
In this case he plead to his manager, "Mister, they are coming at me from all sides," during halftime. 
But as in every war, there are two sides to the story.
The Valladolid side are crying foul as well.  Not "foul" as in "yellow card", but foul as in...bad.  Nivaldo, who delivered the stomp that cut CR's leg, had a few choice words for the former World Player of the Year:
"I stomped on him, but I didn't have any bad intentions.  He was very provocative on the pitch and if the referee should banish me, then he should get the same.
"[the referee] was not measuring Madrid and Valladolid with the same stick."
Cesar Arzo, who also plays for Valladolid, had some rough words for Cristiano on Cadena SER (Spanish radio station):  "A player as good as him should not make such nonsense on the pitch.  He insulted players of Valladolid (after the second goal).  Nivaldo was wrong, but Ronaldo also should have left the pitch, however he is the daily bread and we know they won't send him off.  Only for who he is they allow the star to insult others.  He seems to be laughing at you even in your own home.  On the pitch demonstrates also how he is as a person." [end story]

Ouch.  This goes way beyond the "he's a diver and winker" from the British press.  The comments are very personal...and deserved.
Yes, you're wondering about my last statement.  I watched the match and CR's arrogance was palpable.  But, I guess when your successes have come few and far between this year, one tends to get desperate.  The press skewered los Blancos (and rightly so) after their defeat against Lyon, so you know they were going to come out with guns ablaze against Valladolid.  RM were every bit as physical as their opponents.  Others were fouled and just jumped up and played on, but CR was rolling, writhing, and flailing his arms like a petulant child.


As for CR...when he gets frustrated by no-calls he tends to overreact in retaliation (the red card from earlier this year) and roll around on the pitch (as he did with the stomp).  In last year's Champions League final (when United were not playing up to their potential) CR pulled down Barca defender Puyols with a rough tackle.  Most in the audience thought he deserved a red card for it, but none was given.

I have to say that I find all of this a bit ironic.  When CR transferred to RM this summer, one of his selling points for joining a team in La Liga was that "the referees in La Liga protect players like me; players with creativity."  I suppose he's rethinking that one about now.
Both Nivaldo and Cesar might have been a little raw after the match when they spoke to the press.  After all, Valladolid outplayed RM in the first half and were unlucky not to be up 4-2 at halftime.  Letting a game go can be a painful reality to deal with and then the press stick their microphones in your face and expect you to be lucid.  So we might take the severity of their comments with a grain of salt, but they do have a valid point:  CR has been the standard in the footy world for several years now.  He should know better.

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