Any Winnipeg fans of the beautiful game may have already heard that Cristiano Ronaldo is officially set to move to Real Madrid – His current team Manchester United having excepted an £80 million deal from the Spanish giant. For anyone keeping track, on Monday Madrid paid £59 million to add Brazilian sensation Ricardo Kaka, and word around the campfire is they are the serious contender to purchase striker David Villa from fellow Spanish club Valencia.
Kaka was still putting on a world class show in Italy and David Villa’s profile sky rocketed after an electrifying performance in last year’s Euro Cup (which Spain won). However securing C.Ronaldo (or “Cronaldo” as his detractors like to call him) will certainly be Madrid’s most noteworthy addition. The 24 year old won player of the year last season while being the English Premier League’s top goal scorer. With La Liga (the Spanish league) being a much more open game and the fact that he’s still young enough to improve every season, its more than likely we will see even more goals every season from the Pride of Portugal. At least he’d better score a lot, Spanish fans are infamously fickle and like their Futbol the same as their TV, filled with soap-opera style drama.
Ronaldo may be the hero of Real Madrid now but Ronaldinho was a similiar story for Madrid’s rivals Barcelona, and after failing to meet his own high standards the Spanish media and fans withdrew their support and Ronaldinho was sent packing to Italy. C. Ronaldo had better learn to tone down some of his antics or, mark my words, the Spanish fans will literally build a statue of him just so they can burn it down.
And finally to vaguely tie this all back to home, Winnipeg Soccer fans should consider a road trip to Toronto’s BMO field where Toronto FC will take on Real Madrid in a friendly on August 7th.
Image Ronaldo, West Brom 0 United 5, Jan 27th 2009 Originally uploaded by 99 James Nguyen
