Onside - Tales of a Football Lover #5

Time makes fools of us all.

2009 was the end of one dream even as another began. With Ferguson rebuilding after the aging class of 92 proved insufficient in face of Mourinho’s charge with Chelsea and the financial muscle, it was a young Portuguese ably helped by a scruffy Argentine and workhorse Englishman that brought about the revival. Even when the Argentine left in acrimonious dispute with the Boss, a Bulgarian came in and took on the challenge.

But it was the young Portuguese who took the world by storm.

Cristiano Ronaldo is a lot of things. Pretentious, Ambitious, Talented, Mercurial, Hard Working – but above all he is a Dreamer. It was his dream to play at the Bernabeu one day, and almost a decade later, he leaves it as a legend.

The Messi vs Ronaldo battle may be a dark missive for how a beautiful collective game has descended into two sets of supporters trying to celebrate individual brilliance (not that the Ballon D’ors have helped by being lopsided towards certain statistics and positions), but that doesn’t take away from two of the best players of the Modern generation.

This was best for Juventus and Real Madrid. Zidane must have contemplated what else he could have gotten from the aged (not aging) core team of Ramos, Marcelo, Ronaldo and Modric even as he left with a bittersweet halo. While the success hasn’t ended, it is becoming time for moving forward and finding the next set of Galacticos.

And Ronaldo may be the catalyst for the transition in a beautiful manner. This isn’t the end of his story, it is the beginning of a new chapter for both him and the club that held his love for so long. If Manchester United was his Amazing Beginning and Real Madrid his Greatness Days, then Juventus can be a perfect twilight of glory for this beast of the game.

Manchester United mourns the loss of Ronaldo still. He was the symbol of the attractive brand of football that brought them to notice on the European stage with two back to back finals – Ferguson managed to keep them a domestic force but Europe faded away and now it’s an attempt to move back there in cruel steadiness. But the need to move forward is for everyone, as must Madrid – for they will mourn and they will recover with new greats to cherish. In the coming days, who knows who will take up the mantle…Mbappe? Neymar? Hazard?

For now CR7 is taking the Old Lady on a romantic date – falling in love all over again. Who knows what doom and gloom this may spell for the rest of Europe. But the rest can dream as well.