4:04PM GMT 25 Nov 2008
The Bung: Sir Alex Ferguson challenges us all to walk in Cristiano Ronaldo's shoes for a day – and keep our balance – while Nicolas Anelka plays the joker at Chelsea and Sir Clive Woodward wants another crack at football. It's the way he tells 'em.
Cristiano Ronaldo is many things to many men. Pantomime villain. The greatest player in the world. A world class tumbler. A wage slave. A mummy’s boy.
And now his Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has added to the myriad descriptions of this puzzle of a man wrapped up in an enigma. Ferguson, you see, is in awe of the Portuguese’s courage in the face of the slings and arrows of grave misfortune aimed at him by opposition fans and players alike.
“Some people have said he cannot handle it,” said Ferguson ahead of United’s Champions League match against Villarreal, a game in which Ronaldo is desperate to play despite a minor knock.
“But I wonder how many people could take it when they are walking down the street and are constantly being hit over the head with a baton.”
What Ferguson saw in Ronaldo’s treatment during a robust 0-0 draw with Aston Villa to prompt that analogy is unclear. What was evident was that Ronaldo was targeted by the Villa players, almost always within the bounds of the laws, made plenty of what fouls were committed against him and let the Villa fans who constantly hounded him know he was rattled when he was substituted.
“How many times could they take it?” continued Ferguson, who claimed the rough house treatment was a cross Ronaldo has to bear for his greatness. "Show me someone who likes being abused. Will you point them out to me?”
No one could, of course, the local S&M club not being open until later in the evening, The Bung is told anyway. But you can be sure that Ronaldo will continue to come in for heavy handed treatment if it troubles him so evidently. And his answer to Villa’s fans’ question of “who are ya?” being to claim he is No 1 isn’t going to change that any time soon.
And now his Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has added to the myriad descriptions of this puzzle of a man wrapped up in an enigma. Ferguson, you see, is in awe of the Portuguese’s courage in the face of the slings and arrows of grave misfortune aimed at him by opposition fans and players alike.
“Some people have said he cannot handle it,” said Ferguson ahead of United’s Champions League match against Villarreal, a game in which Ronaldo is desperate to play despite a minor knock.
“But I wonder how many people could take it when they are walking down the street and are constantly being hit over the head with a baton.”
What Ferguson saw in Ronaldo’s treatment during a robust 0-0 draw with Aston Villa to prompt that analogy is unclear. What was evident was that Ronaldo was targeted by the Villa players, almost always within the bounds of the laws, made plenty of what fouls were committed against him and let the Villa fans who constantly hounded him know he was rattled when he was substituted.
“How many times could they take it?” continued Ferguson, who claimed the rough house treatment was a cross Ronaldo has to bear for his greatness. "Show me someone who likes being abused. Will you point them out to me?”
No one could, of course, the local S&M club not being open until later in the evening, The Bung is told anyway. But you can be sure that Ronaldo will continue to come in for heavy handed treatment if it troubles him so evidently. And his answer to Villa’s fans’ question of “who are ya?” being to claim he is No 1 isn’t going to change that any time soon.
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