Page 32 - bon-dia-aruba-20210910

A32 sports
Diabierna 10 September 2021

After all the hype, Ronaldo set for 1st game back at Man U

(AP) - The public relations push Championship where he won the proaches — yet his presence did wind
has been relentless at Manchester One of the best players in the history Golden Boot with five goals in four up being divisive purely for the fact it
United these past few days, de- of soccer is making an emotional re- games. meant the team seemed to exist as a
tailing everything about Cristia- turn for a second spell at one of the function to get the best out of him as
no Ronaldo from his movements world’s biggest teams, so it’s under- The top scorer in Champions League opposed to working as a unit.
in training, his greatest goals, his standable that Ronaldo has been the history with 134, Ronaldo has deliv-
reclaiming of the “iconic” No. 7 talk of the town since his stunning ered the following number of league More than 28% shots taken by Juven-
jersey, to the inside story of his transfer from Juventus was complet- goals in his last five seasons at club tus last season came from Ronaldo.
goal celebration. ed last week. level: 29 in 33 games (2020-21), 31 in Juventus was the team that supplied
33 games (2019-20), 21 in 31 games the most crosses in Serie A, serving
Ronaldo, of course, was immediately His first appearance back at United is (2018-19), 26 in 27 games (2017-18), arguably the best header of the ball in
added to the giant mural emblazoned likely to be against Newcastle on Sat- and 25 in 29 games (2016-17). the world whose best work increas-
outside Old Trafford. United jer- urday and it is one of the most antici- ingly came in the six-yard box. He
seys with his name on the back are pated occasions in the history of the However, even if he was top scorer in had 168 shots in total, 31 more than
flying off the shelves in the club’s Premier League, even if the match Serie A last season and had 101 goals any Premier League player had.
megastore. will not be televised live in Britain and 22 assists in a total of 134 appear-
because of previously agreed broad- ances for Juventus, his three years in “If there’s Ronaldo, you need to have
“Cristiano is in the house,” United casting arrangements. Turin should perhaps act as a warning a squad that suits Ronaldo,” Sarri,
midfielder Bruno Fernandes said. for United. who was Juventus coach in the 2019-
But away from all the glitz, the hype 20 season, said recently.
As if anyone wasn’t aware. and the marketing, what can the soc- Juve steadily declined with Ronaldo
cer world expect of the 36-year-old there, to the extent that the team only Sarri, who is now coach at Lazio,
Ronaldo in what could be the last just scraped a fourth-place finish last spoke of the difficulty of managing
big move of his club career? Does his season to qualify for the Champions Ronaldo because he is a “multina-
presence virtually ensure United will League. In the Champions League, tional brand who has personal in-
be “closer to winning” trophies, as Juve reached the quarterfinals just terests that have to be coupled with
Fernandes has said. once with Ronaldo — before he ar- those of the team.”
rived, it got to the final in two of the
Certainly, Ronaldo is a still a guaran- previous four seasons. “But there are also many positive
tee of goals. He has a staggering 785 aspects,” he said, “because Ronaldo
goals in 1,075 appearances for club That maybe was not all his doing — it brings the numbers at the end of the
and country, after all. He has just be- was a turbulent period for Juve, which year.”
come the record scorer of all time in had three coaches in Massimiliano
men’s international soccer, with 111 Allegri, Maurizio Sarri and Andrea And that’s the balance United will
goals, and is coming off a European Pirlo, all of whom had different ap- have to strike.