No one is touching Ronaldo's 2008 and 2016. And I mean NO ONE. 2008 - We saw the most COMPLETE player ever created. He wasn't just a footballer, he was a storm. He was 23 years old with the anger of a god in his body. He headed like a striker, tackled like a defender, sprinted like an Olympic runner, shot from 40 yards like it was a penalty. Knuckleball free kicks that defied physics. Backheels, stepovers, headers that touched the sky. 42 goals as a winger in England, when England still broke your legs for fun. Champions League winner, Premier League winner, with tears in his eyes at the end. That year he didn't play football, he POSSESSED it. He could do everything. Literally everything. There will never be a more complete footballer than CR7 2008. And then... 2016 - We saw the SCARIEST and most INEVITABLE man to ever touch a pitch. He wasn't complete anymore. He was worse. He was something more terrifying. He didn't need to dribble. He didn't need to dance. He just needed to exist. Because you KNEW he would score. The defenders knew. The goalkeeper knew. The fans in the 90th minute knew. It was written. Quarter-final vs Wolfsburg - down 2-0, dead and buried, he scores a hat-trick and walks off like the undertaker. Semi vs Atletico, Final vs Atletico. Portugal with one leg, dragging a whole country to a trophy with tears and a scream from the touchline. 2016 wasn't football, it was destiny wearing number 7. You couldn't stop him, you could only watch him happen to you. 2008 he showed you how football SHOULD be played. 2016 he showed you that football doesn't matter, only WILL matters. Two different monsters. Same name. No one else comes close.

Forget the graphics, let's be real. Messi scoring 91 goals in 2012 and only winning Copa del Rey is the biggest statpad the game has ever seen. I'm sorry. Gerd Muller scored 85 in 72 and won EVERYTHING. Bundesliga. Euros with Germany, scored 2 in the final ffs. Every goal had weight. Messi's 91? 4 goals vs Espanyol who finished 14th. Hat trick vs Deportivo that got relegated. 5 goals vs Leverkusen when Barca were already through. 2 goals when it's already 5-0 vs Rayo Vallecano. Then when it actually MATTERED: La Liga - bottled. Lost to Mourinho's Madrid. UCL semi vs Chelsea - 180 mins, 0 goals, misses the penalty that would have put them in the final. The biggest moment of the year and he choked. So what did 91 goals get you? Copa del Rey. Same trophy Wigan won that year. It's not hate, it's facts. Muller scored to win titles. 91 goals with only Copa del Rey is insane statpadding, no other way to say it.

The worst line you can have on your CV as a manager is: I could not work with Cristiano Ronaldo. Look at the list and tell me I'm lying: Rafa Benitez - Came to Real Madrid, said Ronaldo is not his main man, wanted to build around Bale. Wanted Ronaldo to play different. What happened? Sacked in 7 months. Never coached a top elite club again. Newcastle, Everton, Celta. Finished. Maurizio Sarri - Juventus. Said he had a problem because Ronaldo's presence affected Dybala. Tried to bench him, sub him. Won the league and STILL got sacked. Never seen again at the top. Ralf Rangnick - Interim fraud. Came to Man United talking about pressing professor. Benched Ronaldo, humiliated him. Lost the dressing room. United finished 6th. Now managing Austria. No top club will touch him. Rudi Garcia - Al Nassr. Benched Ronaldo, said he does not fit his system. Sacked 3 months later. Now where? Napoli disaster, sacked again. Fernando Santos - Portugal. Benched Ronaldo at the World Cup for Goncalo Ramos because of tactics. Lost to Morocco. Sacked. Now managing Azerbaijan. From European Champions to Azerbaijan. Erik ten Hag - The biggest example. Had Ronaldo who scored 24 goals the season before. Said he does not fit his attacking dynamic football, wanted Wout Weghorst who scored 2 goals. Fought him, disrespected him, terminated his contract. Result? 8th position, 58 goals conceded, sacked, now hiding in Germany. Every manager who thought he was bigger than Ronaldo, every manager who said Ronaldo doesn't suit ME - their career died immediately after. Coincidence? No. It's a curse. Ronaldo is not a player you manage. He is a system you embrace. Ancelotti embraced him, won 3 UCLs. Zidane embraced him, won 3 UCLs in a row. Ferguson embraced him, won everything. The ones who couldn't work with him exposed themselves. They are not elite managers. They are system managers with no system. If you can't work with the most hardworking, most professional, most clutch player in history who just wants to win, the problem is not Ronaldo. The problem is YOU.