Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 816th career goal against Sheriff, which is why he can rightfully be considered the best soccer player in history.
It took Ronaldo eight appearances in the new season to make his debut and he did so against the team that is the weakest of all rivals. He shook the net with a penalty goal.
Today’s most popular athlete is far from a recognizable form, and no matter how hard he tries to resist his age, time is slowly but surely passing him by and it is clear that he is no longer in the narrow circle of the best soccer players in the world.
Throughout his career, Ronaldo has faced many tough rivals. He got along with most of them easily, but only one brought him to such a desperate state that he asked for a change.
Football fans will first think that it is Dani Alves, with whom CR7 fought for many years in El Clasico, but this is not the case.
The famous Portuguese ace chose Ashley Cole as his toughest rival. The duels with the aggressive and very combative Englishman obviously remained well in his memory.
“Over the years in England I had big battles with Ashley Cole, he never gave you a second to catch your breath. He was a very tough player in his prime, fierce at the starts. it was never going to be easy,” he said. Ronaldo on Cole in 2016.
Cole made his mark as a player at Arsenal, but built his reputation as a world-class player and the best left-back while playing for Chelsea.
In one duel, the Englishman was so aggressive that he brought Ronaldo to tears. During the match, the Portuguese ran to the other side of the pitch to avoid Cole.
However, when he returned to his then natural position, the belligerent left-back set off so fiercely that the then-young Ronaldo demanded a change.
During that game, even Ronaldo signaled to Cole that he had pocketed it, which speaks volumes for the headaches it caused the then and now Manchester United star.
Ronaldo and Cole met for the first time at the European Championship in 2004 in the match between the national teams of Portugal and England in the knockout stage.
Then the English defender let his rival know that every next game will be very difficult and tiring. It will just drive him crazy.
Some are inclined to say that Cole is one of the culprits why Alex Ferguson began to change the position of his best player just to avoid the Englishman.
The rivalry between Cole and Ronaldo somehow ended in the summer of 2009 when the Portuguese footballer left United and moved to Real Madrid.
The English defender collected many trophies with Arsenal and Chelsea. He lost the Champions League final to Ronaldo in 2008 and will surely remember that defeat forever, just like the one two years earlier when he lost the final to Barcelona as a Topnik player.
However, Frank Lampard’s former assistant on Everton’s bench reached the most prestigious trophy in club football in 2012 when he beat Bayern with great luck.
With the “blues” he also won the Europa League, so looking at his entire club career, he retired with as many as 16 trophies. He was decorated with great fighting spirit and a “never give up” attitude, which is why he left an indelible mark in the world of football.
He was selected several times in the best team in Europe and the English Premier League. He retired from football in 2019 after infamous stints at Roma and LA Galaxy.
