The Ronaldo Factor-Why Ronaldo's More Than A Footballer...

 Welcome guys and today we're celebrating the Birthday of one of the ultimate GOAT's of the game.  Mark the date, 5th of February, exactly 36 years ago, a man was born in the coastal town of Funchal.  Fast forward 36 years in time, and you have the man, the man himself, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ruling the footballing world for more than a decade.  No one could stop this man from his success, not the poverty, not the haters, literally no one.  We football fans celebrate this man all time.  So what really has he brought to the game, that we celebrate him like we do now.  Come on let us find out and before that let us get on to the things that have moulded him on his way to top.

     Ronaldo was not a rich kid by birth, he was born in a big family with an alcoholic father at the helm.  From his young years, he had that ultimate craze at the beautiful sport.  He had been playing for a local club called Andorinha from the age of 8.  His father meant everything to him.  Even being alcoholic, his father was his ultimate hero. 

He supported him at his every decision.  He was just a mediocore student at the school and often had confrontations with his teachers.  On one fateful day, he threw a chair at a teacher and as a result he was expelled from school.  His father once again came to his rescue and gave him his backing to go pro.  But poverty didn't help their causes.  He once begged for a Burger at McDonalds and had to sweep the streets to find food. 

And this poverty moulded him to be the player that he is right now.  He knew that football was the only way to escape poverty and began working for it.  And he wanted to be the best around the town as could not slow down and let poverty take him over.  When he was 14, he attended a trial at Sporting CP and got picked for the youth team after a 3-day trial, the coaches found something special with that kid from Madureira.  And his career started to take off.  Every thing was going well until that one fateful occasion when he was diagnosed with a racing heart.

The Tormenting Days:

        He was distraught to hear the fact that he was diagnosed with a heart ailment that would lead him to quit football.  But god stood behind him and he resumed training after a heart surgery.  From then on, he worked like a beast.  He was the most punctual kid in the Sporting CP academy, he would train for hours everyday, and it paid off finally he was promoted to the first team and made his debut on the 7th of october 2002, and he was an instant hit as he scored two goals in his debut and then, the Ronaldo domination started there, his dribble completion rate per game and his eye-catching speed caught a lot of Premier League Managers and finally Ferguson signed him as Ronaldo destroyed United in a friendly and his dribbling, shooting, passing caught the eye of Ferguson. 

From then on, it was an one way track and It was at United, where he transformed himself mentally.  He was repeatedly bullied in the Man United Locker room and those things didn't stop him from reaching his goal, he was only made a lot stronger.  Ronaldo always wanted to be the best player in the team and he once he established himself at Man United, he now had one more dream, and that to be the best player on the planet.  And only his dribbles and his speed couldn't earn him that tag, so he started working more harder and worked on his shooting to become individually known.  From then on, he was no more a simple roadrunner, he was a match winner.  This is how he rose to the top and now let us look about how he influenced and revolutionised football.

The Ronaldo Factor:

         After Cristiano Ronaldo completed his move to Real Madrid he became a fan favorite and started to be treated as the idol of a lot of young footballers.  He did not mesmerize young players with his goals or his skills, it was his mentality.

                         “Your love makes me strong, your hate makes me unstoppable.” ...

  He was so strong mentally and never turned down a challenge.  The fiery attitude of his was the one that caught the eye of certain young players like Mbappe. 

 He inspired every one with his training regimes and his hard work.

  While he was a youngster, he didn't care about his body a lot, after he moved to Real Madrid, he just was unstoppable, 4 ballon d'ors 3 Champions Leagues, he won it all, multiple Copa Del Rey triumphs, everything.  But that didn't come at an easy cost, he put it all at the training ground.  He may not be talented as a Messi or a Neymar, but he is a hardworker and what we see from him, is the product of that hardwork.  He is the perfect example and the difference between those failed talents and those successful footballers, the ones who have stood out for many years.  Success never comes without hardwork.  The reason he is at the top even now, is because of his mad training regime and his punctual diet.  This is the Professionalism that he taught the world.

         He once said in an interview that he denied to buy an Apple I Phone for his son Cristiano Ronaldo Jr.  He said the reason for that decision as well.  

                            "It is easy to be a lazy and Moody kid when you have a big bed for sleeping, yoghurts, lot of fruits and fast cars in the garage.

         His explanation was perfect, he wanted Cristianinho to know that nothing comes without Hard Work.  He said, all of his Hard Work is to prevent Cristianinho from experiencing the poverty that he, Ronaldo experienced as a child, but he also does not want to load him with luxury, and he said, once he does that Cristianinho would stop working.  

Another important asset that the taught young forwards is the ability to adapt and transist the physical changes and remain at the top for many successive seasons.  Ronaldo was a winger when he started, and gradually changed his play style to be a complete striker.  But only a change in the play style does not help, he transformed himself physically, and also mentally. 

        He built a strong physique that would allow him to shield the ball instead of trying to dribble past, because if he gets caught in a tackle and gets injured, for his age, that would probably deteriorate his career.  So he mentally changed himself from an individual to a team player.  An interesting stat is that his passing rate has gone up in the recent years, his passing rate was way too low at Man United and slowly got up in Real Madrid and it is very high at Juventus.  This change allows him to be involved in the game and also achieving his personal milestones.  He no longer dribbles like he used to do before, he now focuses only on the end product.  This transition is what every forward player should make.  Even if it is a winger, he should stop trying to dribble and make long runs and try to pass it a lot more and improve his positoning.  This is what exactly Cristiano did.  And this adaptability is the one which differentiates legends of all time and legends of the particular generation.  This can be related with Hazard's struggles at Real Madrid.  He should no longer try to dribble a lot and instead try to be more of a goal threat, for which he has train a lot.  The reason that Hazard is struggling now with injuries is, he never trains lot.  And he has to learn to be professional and train hard. 

         The reason Ronaldo is still at the top that is due to his muscle conditioning that he does every day.  Even his Juventus teammates are stunned with his training regime.

And it is all this adaptability, Hardwork, Mental strength, that has kept him going on even at this age of 36.  So remember, the things that he taught is Hardwork and adapt, he revolutionised the game by teaching the fact that only talent will not help anyone to get to top, you have top adopt as the years go by and you have to work harder and harder as your age increases, the facts that no other footballer has ever taught.  His prescence has inspired a lot of footballers, like Mbappe, who just had pace when he first came into the scene, but now, he is a real goal threat.

  He works harder than anyone even already being a top player.  

      In My point of view, Ronaldo is more than his 760 goals, 5 Ballon d'ors, 3 UCL's.  He is just a clear image of how punctual and hardworking a footballer should be.....