Villaflor: Poor Ronaldo

THE world’s most expensive spoiled brat is sad.

And what a way to ruin the start of a season and break the hearts of Real Madrid fans by telling the whole world he is “unhappy” at the Bernabeu.

“I’m sad. When I don’t celebrate goals it’s because I’m not happy. It’s a professional thing. Real Madrid knows why I’m not happy,” the Daily Mail quoted Cristiano Ronaldo as saying after the game.

Such a statement is troubling. For one, it reveals how the modern game has been upended by an invisible force that might soon be the beautiful game’s undoing: the unfettered, supreme focus on the individual. And the stunt Cristiano Ronaldo pulled says a lot about how he’s convinced the balls in the Bernabeu revolve around him.

Because how can anyone not celebrate a goal? Every goal is supposed to be a cause for celebration, and the goal scorer is duty-bound to remind the world of that. But not Cristiano Ronaldo, pack leader of a growing number of young egotists with spiked shoes.

The least he could have done was to celebrate for the fans who never think twice about splurging their hard-earned money on tickets and CR7 kits, never mind if times are hard in a sinking economy that is Spain. He could have shown them some respect, some consideration.

But being respectful and considerate has never been among his good qualities. To Ronaldo, diver and diva par excellence, football has always been about him. And, of course, the money.

And there is reason to believe that big moolah was the cause of La Diva’s sulking.

The British online news outfit Metro ran a story that Manchester City offered £160 million for Cristiano Ronaldo during the last transfer window, but Real Madrid turned it down. (Incidentally, City and Real have been drawn into the Group of Death in the Champions League, and how this story would unfold over the weeks leading to their Oct. 24 match up will keep scribes on the edge.)

“Ronaldo has publicly admitted,” the report said, “that he is ‘sad’ due to a ‘professional’ issue with the Primera Liga champions, but it is unknown whether City’s approach has anything to do with his bad mood.”

The last phrase is a cheeky way to suggest that money is the cause for La Diva’s sadness. (And not surprisingly because money, it seems, is what he holds most dear.

For why else would he throw a fit, just because he has been denied his wishes? No wonder that to most fans who dislike him with a passion, Cristiano Ronaldo is nothing more than an insatiable, self-centered child. But let us not be too quick to judge.)

Anyway, had Real Madrid accepted City’s offer, Ronaldo reportedly would have gotten £300,000 a week, making him the highest paid footballer on the planet.

But Metro, quoting Spanish sports daily AS, reports further: “Ronaldo, 27, has insisted that his sadness is ‘not about the money,’ but there are rumors that he is seeking a lucrative contract extension.”

Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and Cristiano Ronaldo’s petulant heart is burning with despair and desire.

The public is keen to watch, many of them salivating at the idea of the Portuguese forward eventually joining the Dark Side that is Manchester City. (“But he’s already with the Dark Side,” the United and Barcelona fans object.)

Of course, Real Madrid’s psy-ops expert Jose “The Special (Evil?) One” Mourinho was quick to pounce on the issue, firing the first salvo of mind games against his counterpart in England, calling the other Manchester side as a club that lacks the “historic capital – the trophies, the European Cups, the history, the fans” of football’s aristocrats.

“Things you cannot buy with money,” Mourinho said, referring to what Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich have that City doesn’t.

Oddly, it’s that kind of money that makes poor little things like Cristiano Ronaldo really, really sad. How unfortunate.

(nsvillaflor@gmail.com)