Superstar

“Life is a hard road, a vale of tears, a dark wind rising, sound and fury, blues coming down like hail. And some days, your team loses in the World Cup!”, the words from the write-up of Brian Philips from Yahoo! Sports on 30 July 2010 and referring to no one but the world’s most expensive footballer.

It is with high-anticipation that a superstar can always pull-it off while the cameras are all directed upon him because there are many wonders to capture. In Cristiano Ronaldo’s case, it is leading his Portugal team to qualify for the Quarter Finals. For the last game in the Round of 16 match, it is the only thing to look forward to.

In the aftermath of the Portugal’s loss to Spain, Cristiano Ronaldo have tumbled deep from the pedestal that he’s stepping upon. Describing himself as a “broken man”, the existential horror of the human condition appears to have dawned on him all at once. He was quoted in an interview to BBC saying, “I feel a broken man, completely disconsolate, frustrated and an unimaginable sadness. I am a human being and like any human being I suffer and I have the right to suffer alone.”

The words that came from the man who clearly knows his responsibility as opposed to all the critism and whatever has been said against him being the team captain may very well be construed upon our own understanding.

The 25-year-old Real Madrid star was savaged in the media and in the press naming him as the Superstar ‘who once again failed to live up to his club form for his country at a major championship’. And the facts were listed all over the papers about this most expensive player at 94 Million Euros who came to Real Madrid from Manchester United but came trophyless last season. And failing to end a title drought for Real Madrid and get it into the Champions League final that his club hosted.

The stats says Ronaldo scored one penalty kick in 2006, one goal at Euro 2008 and one goal in South Africa.

Ronaldo, the world’s most expensive player, showed only rare flashes of brilliance at the tournament, however.

Everybody believed that he can do it. From the coach down to his team members to all the football fans out there. Because he is the leader and the captain. Or maybe because he is ‘Cristiano Ronaldo’? That’s why he ‘must’ do it?

I am not a big Ronaldo fan. And I am not writing this because he can swoon over all the girls in the crowd but it is with empathy that I ponder about the upshot of how losing that match against Spain on 29th July 2010 have made of him and how the world looked down on this Superstar.

Why are all fingers being pointed at this football superstar? He might be the forerunner of Portugal but the game is all about teamwork. You win as a team and you lose as a team. And it’s not supposed to be a one-man millstone just because the limelight is on him. Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho said that the entire Portugal squad must shoulder the blame for the exit of the team and that Ronaldo shouldn’t be made the scapegoat. The man should not be weighed down with all the responsibilities of the team.

Football isn’t a one-man game but losing a goal surely hurts.

Photo Credits: AFP/Getty Images