The Future of Ronaldo

            Christiano Ronaldo is definitely one of the best soccer players in the world right now, with his recent winning of the Ballon d’Or being current proof of that. The Ballon d’Or could also be called the player of the year, and the top player is chosen to receive the award based on the last year’s performance. Playing for Real Madrid, Ronaldo is a key player for the team, playing an important role in almost any attack by the team. Quite often he will score multiple goals per game, and the number of hat tricks that he has is astounding. Unlike his club performance, Ronaldo was not able to have the same success with the Portuguese national team in the world cup this summer, and many, myself included, felt like that had an effect on the success of the year. The other two candidates in the top three shortlist included Messi and Neuer, two players on opposing sides of the World Cup final. Still, I felt that Ronaldo was as deserving as any player to win the award this year, and I would’ve had trouble setting a winner apart from the three.

            However, all doesn't seem to be well in the world of Ronaldo, as many will recall that he had a knee issue going into the World Cup this summer. I would say around a week before the World Cup that Ronaldo was showing signs of injury and it was even questioned as to whether he would play or not. He played, but the tournament was unsuccessful for him, and 6 months later, the problem seems to persist. While he can play through it and still be successful, I don’t think that he will ever fully recover from the issue and he will remain to have a bad knee. While little information is released to keep his full condition confidential, it looks like the problem will ensue. However, Ronaldo is obviously able to play better than most, and I don’t see his standing as a top player to go down any time soon.