Under coach Erik ten Hag, Cristiano Ronaldo is no longer a top performer at Manchester United, but almost only a benchwarmer. Is that unusual for a world-class attacker at the age of 37?
The fact that Cristiano Ronaldo is now losing running duels against centre-backs he would have taken 20 from at 30 metres ten years ago, despite his still vanishingly low body fat percentage, does not allow any conclusions to be drawn about his still toned body – i.e. whether it is still of any use to him at all.
Because his physical fitness also ensures that CR7 is still largely spared serious injuries in the late autumn of his career – in addition to advances in medicine or more protection for attackers by the referees. Michel Platini, perhaps Europe’s most prolific playmaker of the 1980s, hung up his boots at the age of 31, plagued by injury; Marco van Basten played his last game at the age of 28 because of persistent ankle problems.
Pelé and Maradona let it all drift away
Namesake Ronaldo, the two-time World Champion from Brazil, even had to fear for his career in his early 20s and had already turned his back on the world class at the end of his 20s, mainly because of his knee injuries. The “phenomenon” eventually dragged on until 34 – the age at which Zinedine Zidane sensibly decided to end his career on a high as the “best player” of the 2006 World Cup.
Other legends willingly played far beyond their zenith. Pelé, worn out by a total of over 1,000 appearances, had already ended his national team career at the age of 30, but at club level he continued to try his hand at development work in the failing US league NASL until the age of 37, with princely wages.
Diego Maradona, too, marked by wear and tear of various kinds, did not retire until he was almost 37, although the world-class player in the Argentine had already said goodbye after the 1990 World Cup. Maradona was just 29 at the time.
Eusebio, the exceptional athlete, was virtually a sports invalid by the time he was 35, and at that age Gerd Müller, the “bomber”, also gave it a rest – like his Portuguese counterpart, long since a shadow of his former self in the NASL.
World-class attackers are simply not designed by the high demands placed on them to still be able to exist as such at such a biblical age for them, in which Cristiano Ronaldo (turns 38 in February) is now also. At that age, even an Alfredo di Stefano at Real Madrid, after being the absolute centre of the royal game for ten years, was finally more or less discarded.
Puskas with gut and stamina
But where there is an unwritten rule, there are always a few exceptions. The 37-year-old Johan Cruyff, who had also left for the NASL in the meantime, led Feyenoord Rotterdam to the Dutch double as player of the year in the last season of his career. Romario, world champion and world footballer of 1994, became Brazil’s top scorer in 2005 – at the age of 39.
Now – unlike CR7 – neither of the two on the decline had once again moved to what is probably the best league in the world, where the game is probably played more physically than anywhere else. Ferenc Puskas, on the other hand, who already weighed a few kilos more at that time, managed to become Spain’s top scorer at the age of 36 and 37 for Real Madrid – and to shoot the royals to the championship in each case. But no pressing was demanded of him either.
