Hasta luego, Balon d'Or?

By Aleks Slupinski, writing from Spain

It’s 9:00am on a Wednesday morning in Spain. Cristiano Ronaldo is sad, and the entire country knows about it.

As soon as Ronaldo’s tamper tantrum, for lack of a better description, spread rampantly through the world of social media, the Spanish press jumped on the opportunity to use Ronaldo’s words as journalistic dynamite.

For those unfamiliar with the disasterous bias that is Spanish sports media, I will explain. Since I’ve settled down in the land of La Liga, I learned I have two options when wanting to get my daily information from the newstands.

Option 1 - Marca. Anti-Cule and everything sprinkled with the words Blaugrana or tiki-taka.
Option 2 - Mundo Deportivo, the newspaper that worships absolutely anything that comes out of the mouths of Barca and co. especially Messi, their Argentinian superman. Other reasonable alternatives, although less popular, are the newspapers AS and SPORT.

It was completely unsurprising to see Mundo Deportivo’s Tuesday headline stating “SAD = MONEY”,narrowing down CR7’s emotional crisis into financial terms, claiming that there is no other problem other than the club’s lack of motivation to re-negotiate Cristiano’s current contract under the new Spanish taxation system. Furthermore, MD depicts a crumbling relationship between Cristiano and the infuriated Florentino Perez, who alledgedly asked, ¨why have you only said something now that the transfer window is closed, and not a week earlier?“

“Ronaldo’s unhappy? Here at Barcelona, everybody is very happy”
- Toni Freixa (FCB Head Sec.)

MARCA on the other hand, has painted a more sympathetic view of the situation, listing several clues to the CR7 blues that are cleary NOT financial.

Messi is the poster-child for Barcelona, where he is worshipped. Both him and Iniesta were accompanied by Rosell and Zubizarreta at the recent UEFA gala where Iniesta claimed the prize. Ronaldo sat accompanied solely by Butragueño.
Iker Casillas is the chosen one. Ronaldo wants the Balon d'Or, but it seems that no one is willing to stand behind him. The club publicly supports the Spanish captain and goalkeeper instead. In fact, Ronaldo believes that the 150 goals he has contibuted should merit him wearing the captain’s band a little more often, (the last time the title was on his shoulders was during a friendly match in Kuwait).
After Ronaldo admitted in June 2011 that he wanted to retire with the Blancos, he was under the impression he would receive more public support from the club, however, this doesn’t seem to be the case.

¨Me silban porque soy guapo, rico, y bueno, y me tienen envidia.¨
¨They whistle at me because I’m goodlooking, rich, talented, and they envy me.
- Cristiano Ronaldo (post-match interview Real Madrid-Dinamo Zagreb)

Last season’s vibrant statement was completely chewed out by the media, and spat back out into Ronaldo’s face, depicting him as the evil, narcissistic villain next to the angelic and humble Lionel Messi. Last week’s pouty reaction to Iniesta’s UEFA Best Player in Europe triumph also received similar ridicule. However, Cristiano finds himself fighting the backlash completely solo.

Ronaldo and Mckayla are not impressed

It’s unlikely that a frequently criticized, high-profile footballer would publicly unleash his dissatisfaction with his club if it were purely financial. The tension has been ongoing and was finally made public once the boiling cauldron of complaints was left ignored. Unfortunately, the mounting chaos of the past week has allowed the Spanish media to create an image of Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid as a broken family, significantly diminishing his chances of becoming the poster boy for the annual Balon d'Or.

It looks like the spotlight will, once again, burn brightly on the ¨Flea¨ of Barcelona.

This was written by Aleks Slupinski, a loyal reader of AFR and a student currently abroad in Spain. Remember you can also get involved with the AFR community. Does Ronaldo still have a chance to take what looks to be Messi’s Balon d'Or? Comments below please.