Premier League - Ronaldo hits back over slump

Eurosport - Mon, 12 Jan 15:26:00 2009

Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo insists it is impossible for him to maintain the standards of last season but has vowed to recapture his best form in future.

2008-2009 Manchester United Cristiano Ronaldo - 0

The Portuguese is expected to be named FIFA World Player of the Year on Monday following his stunning 42-goal performance last season - for which he has already received the prestigious Ballon d'Or.

Summer surgery delayed the 23-year-old's start to 2008-09 and he has been criticised in some quarters for his form since, although he was a major factor in Sunday's thumping 3-0 Premier League win over Chelsea.

It has been suggested Real Madrid's very public pursuit of Ronaldo during the close season has unsettled the player - but he claims the drop off in his performance level was inevitable after the brilliance of last term.

And he cited the likes of Kaka and Ronaldinho as superstars who have failed to maintain their genius for season after season.

"Tell me one player who had a great season for two, three, four years at the top level? It's impossible, you don't have anyone," he told Sky Sports.

"Last season I think I did brilliant but this season, in my opinion, I'm not bad, I've scored 10 goals up to now (he has nine in 23 matches), I've come in from injury and people are waiting (for me to get) better and better all the time.

"It is not easy but I know I feel in good form and I think Cristiano is coming better and better.

"If not this season, then next season I know I can do as well again."

Sporting Life / Eurosport

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  1. and by the way, Ronaldo is still the top league scorer­ for ManU at the moment.

    From Funny, on Thu 15 Jan 4:33PM

  2. no.42, yes he might have won all dis award but der is­ no doubting messi is currently d best n ronaldo is no­ where near messis level at d moment. whats more messi­ is forever gonna b easier on d eye dan ronaldo-doesnt­ throw useless stepovers dat wont work.
    no 1 shuld argue­ with what he did last season but in d present he is­ below average-he freekicks r just a waste of time.n he­ did nothing wiv portugal

    From habeeb a, on Wed 14 Jan 12:10AM

  3. why are you comparing messi with cr7 what cy7 achived­ can not be compare to messi or henry this guy has more­ pedigree than two of them,in a short time with man.u­ EPL,CHAMPIONS LEAGUE,WORLD CLUB,F.A,COMMUNITY­ SHIELD,BALLON D OR,FOOTBALLER OF THE YEAR,EURO BEST­ FOOTBALLER,EPL FOOTBALLER OF THE YEAR,nominee fifa­ award twice b4 getting it right and many others this is­ a great achivement that messi and torres has not even­ gotten the half of what this guy has, so you haters go­ and sit down and give honour to whom is due

    From oyedeji, on Tue 13 Jan 8:17AM

  4. Well in all seriousness, the only way you mugs can stop­ him is to try every little trick in the book, then­ commit the foul. sorry guys he really is the best.

    From albion_forestor, on Tue 13 Jan 6:33AM

  5. This guy is a first class chump and a poor sportsman to­ boot. Good thing for him Messi was injured last year­ because if you really analyze the two players there is­ no comparison...

    From frankplant, on Mon 12 Jan 11:54PM

  6. When you talk about acheivment you need to talk about­ RAUL OF REAL not a freshman eager to fame.You gotta be­ objective folks.

    From riadh, on Mon 12 Jan 10:02PM

  7. Hello every one. C.Ronaldo is verry good in stadium.­ Yes i agree with that ;but he is verry irriguant out­ side.they should put a meror beside the enemy goal then­ he will score more and more.He is fils a maman for god­ sake. Yes He is prince in field but you should look up­ for the king Messi or should i say GOD of the game?.

    From riadh, on Mon 12 Jan 9:55PM

  8. Please why do people hate this lad so much?Why try and­ diminish his achievement instead of celebrating good­ football without bias to club or country?It is lame­ comparing him to someone else who lived in another­ time,played for another team,had different­ backrounds,played different styles,exposed to different­ conditions.He was good in his own right.

    From laolu, on Mon 12 Jan 9:53PM

  9. Jealousy is an amazing emotion. What a pity more people­ can't be pleased for the lad instead of criticising­ and using foul language. Well done Ronaldo.

    From quatt47, on Mon 12 Jan 9:18PM

  10. WELL ALL THOSE THAT ARE AGAINST C.R ARE WASTING THEIR­ TIME, HE IS PICKING AT EACH GAME.HE CREATED 2 AGAINST­ CHELSEA WHAT ELSE DO U WANT U JEALOUSY OPPONENTS OF­ MAN.UTD.INFACT I'M HAPPY IF HE CAN CREATE MORE­ 'N' NOT SCORE.

    From Tevin, on Mon 12 Jan 8:14PM

  11. ermm....did he call himself in the third person? :S

    From Cina, on Mon 12 Jan 5:02PM

  12. can't agree more with #34
    hehehe

    From bucin2, on Mon 12 Jan 4:25PM

  13. no 32 dats not consistency-its improving till a certain­ point(last season)n goin down a lot. man u just need 2­ sell him n get a replacement 4 ruud(van d man-miss­ him)coz berbatov is just a waste of money.
    to win­ anything dis season,we cant rely on ronaldos goals coz­ it wont happen n d other attackers r not prolific­ goalscorers either. p.s i wanted huntelaar instead of­ berbasulk n we could have got him 4 half of wat we paid­ 4 berb.
    berbatov-another eron at man u in d making

    From habeeb a, on Mon 12 Jan 4:07PM

  14. im a united fan n i think ronaldo can only go down coz­ hes won errting at man u n wants to go. if i was fergie­ i would have sold him n get a top winger n goal poacher­ coz he wont do what he did last season again in his­ career.
    n yea henry was fabolous at arsenal 4 at least­ 3 seasons in a row-shame he never won fifa playr­ award.
    also dont b comparing him wiv zizou coz ronaldo­ cant win w.cup n euro champs. what annoys me d most­ about ron. is dat his dribbles just dont work-right now­ he isnt evn in d top 5 playrs of d world.

    From habeeb a, on Mon 12 Jan 4:01PM

  15. #31 - lack of form!!! He already scored 9 and missed­ the start of season with injury. That's not lack­ for form to me. there are 17 games left to­ play..let's see how many more he would score.

    on­ his consistency..

    2005 -06 - 9 goals
    2006 -07 - 17­ goals
    2007 -08 - 31 goals - exceptional
    2008-09 - 9­ goals...

    #28 - well, Galatasaray beat Real 3:2 in one­ SuperCup, but of course they won the UEFA cup after­ getting kicked out of the CL.....so what?

    to me­ that's pretty consistent...never below 9 goals for­ a winger...that's pretty impressive consistency­ even if he is not an out and out winger...but he is not­ an out and out striker either.

    From Funny, on Mon 12 Jan 3:51PM

  16. #19 - well that's just my opinion coz ronaldo seems­ like tryin to justified his lack of form by giving that­ silly question. thus from some of discussion here tend­ to justify it by saying that he's just a winger and­ trying hard to correlate it with his position as­ winger. it'll be better if he (ronaldo) just said­ that he aware of that situation and still trying to­ keep up to his best; instead of whinning and comparing­ with other great players; which just showing his­ immaturity.

    being a legend is not only based on short­ time performance. it took consistency and attitude.­ ronaldo can be a legend but he's not there yet.­ still got things to improve. he can answer that­ question by showing it in lots of games to come. he­ still got time.

    not tryin to compare, but we can see­ how legendary tony adam is when mostly all the gooners­ fans cheer him at the game Arsenal vs Portsmouth.­ that's for me is how a true legend should be­ like.

    :)

    From bucin2, on Mon 12 Jan 3:29PM

  17. #28 - They did not even deserve to beat barcelona...I­ am not so sure about that. I really thought Barca­ should have kicked @#$%! They didn't....Who really­ didn't deserve to lose was Milan to Liverpool in­ Istanbul...:) I was distressed for two years before­ fate interveneted to put things right in 2007:)))))

    From Funny, on Mon 12 Jan 3:27PM

  18. #25 - Nobody's comparing Ronaldo to Zidane...and­ you are right...Ronaldo needs consistency and at least­ a Euro championship:) to be compared with­ Zidane.

    Zidane was consistent and fantastic and­ although he never really scored more than 10 league­ goals (he's done that just twice) per season in­ France, Italy or Spain, he scored crucial goals. Two in­ the 1998 final, the free kick against Spain and the­ memorable winner in the CL final against­ Bayern.

    However, Zidane never scored 42 goals per­ season either:) So, in that respect, he cannot be­ compared to Ronaldo:))))))))

    From Funny, on Mon 12 Jan 3:24PM

  19. they did not even deserve to beat barcelona, they­ defended at home the entire time and they call­ themselves champions of europe and the world. zenit­ kicked the @#$% out of them in the supercup. if they­ play barca this year they will lose by five

    From Adnan, on Mon 12 Jan 3:20PM

  20. "Henry at Arsenal"...don't make me laugh.­ He never once had a season like Ronnie did last­ year......Ronnie's standards are much higher to­ achieve than just being the premierships top­ scorer.

    Hahahah, yeah the biggest difference is Henry­ scored 25 + goals for 5-6 seasons in the row and he­ scored whats 200 goals in that time, well see if­ ronaldo achieves that!

    And yes, Henry was a winger­ when Wenger bought him!

    From NothingMan, on Mon 12 Jan 3:14PM
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