Cristiano Ronaldo’s difficulties at Manchester United signal the end of a great career

ADAM PEACOCK has a view in the stands of Cristiano Ronaldo’s slow and painful journey through the twilight of his career.

Cristiano Ronaldo appears to be nearing the end of his football caerer. Picture: Jan Kruger/Getty Images

Cristiano Ronaldo’s career has centred around Tuesday and Wednesday nights, when the best of the best play Champions League.

Thursdays are for the rising, the fading and the exotic in the Europa League.

And here he was, in his twilight, on a Thursday, emerging from the naughty corner, trying to help Manchester United emerge from its own malaise.

Eight days ago, Ronaldo walked off and went home before full time in a 2-0 win over Tottenham. The victory was one of the happiest days of the season for United. The fallout was all about Ronaldo, his Arthur Fonzarelli-like explanation on Instagram devoid of the word sorry.

After a decade littered with apologies, United are rising again, improvement apparent since August’s horrid start. A 4-0 loss in the baking sun at Brentford seems like three seasons ago.

Their exotic opponents on this Thursday, Sheriff of Moldova, arrived without a manager. Croatian Stjepan Tomas quit two days ago after a shock domestic loss. Tomas’ predecessor Yuriy Vernydub, quit in February to fight on the Ukrainian front line. And Sheriff can’t play European games at home, with UEFA a little queasy about a club based in an autonomous part of Moldova with close links to Russia hosting games.

Conflict which puts into perspective how petty a footballer chucking toys from a cot really looks.

Yet such is the power of the pastime in these parts, when a great is fading so publicly, it is impossible to look away.

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United coach Erik ten Hag promised the issue had been sorted and proved it by starting Ronaldo against Sheriff.

The player responded in a way his Instagram post couldn’t. Actions, not words, would be proof and throughout the first half he bounced in between a deeply set Sheriff defensive block.

The Moldovans started with players from nine different nations. With the ball, they were strangers, barely able to string two passes together. Without the ball they played with a back six, forcing Ronaldo to think to be able to receive. And he did. He did not just wait for moments to unfold, expecting perfect delivery. There was no stropping when he didn’t get the ball when asking.

One header went over, before a golden chance on 27 minutes missed.

On 38 minutes Ronaldo looked to threaten on the edge of the box but was flung off the ball by a robust, but fair, challenge. Unusual.

After every one of those moments, a murmur swept across Old Trafford, rough judgment passed about whether a previous version of Ronaldo would have scored.

Things did not go Ronaldo’s way through much of the game. Picture: Naomi Baker/Getty Images

Still, the boisterous SW pocket of Old Trafford, the only part of the famed ground where vocal cords are strained throughout, sang for Ronaldo without a hint of dissent for the man that disappeared without permission down the tunnel beneath them a week prior.

And then the night’s eye-opening moment.

On 58 minutes, with United up 1-0, Ronaldo swerved free at the top of the box, free to shoot with keeper Maxym Koval a sitting duck. The crowd had seen this story a thousand times before. Goal, surely. This was a bad remake. Ronaldo’s right foot smashed the ball high and wide onto the Stretford End. Ronaldo stood bewildered, head shaking, hands on hips.

And the masses gave a standing ovation back. The SW pocket sang louder, undying in their loyalty.

Ronaldo toiled, numerous forward runs off short interplay unrewarded. His effort didn’t drop and in the 81st minute he was rewarded, rising for a header. Ronaldo reacted to Koval’s save to poke home a goal which meant more than just your normal tap against exotic opponents on a Thursday night.

United won comfortably, 3-0, as if there hadn’t been drama all season.

Ronaldo soaks in the adulation of the Old Trafford crowd. Picture: Naomi Baker/Getty Images

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The night doesn’t solve how Ronaldo’s exit will be handled.

The World Cup is almost here, Ronaldo’s last chance with Portugal to add to his 2016 European Championship title. Manchester United are as likely to win the Premier League this season as Portugal are to lift the World Cup.

January’s transfer window looms, and the prospect of another period of furious speculation about Ronaldo.

Going back through the recent timeline, before the game against Sheriff, before last weekend when he trained alone (removed from the squad that went to Chelsea) and before the midweek refusal to enter the fray late against Tottenham, Ronaldo’s last minutes came in a start against Newcastle, an intense 0-0 draw in which he was visibly frustrated when withdrawn on 70 minutes.

Playing 90 minutes against Sheriff virtually rules Ronaldo out of starting on Sunday against West Ham. More debate.

Finding a balance with every Ronaldo decision is an impossible task for ten Hag.

The Portuguese hero is no longer indispensable, markedly so in comparison to the man he’s traded virtuoso performances with for an entire generation.

Lionel Messi scored another Champions League brace this week, now up to 11 in 16 games in all competitions this season. Messi is central to Argentina’s plans in Qatar month, a tournament La Albiceleste enter on a 35-game unbeaten streak.

Messi’s encore could well live up to what his career has delivered. Lights flicker on Ronaldo’s.

Ronaldo’s second spell with Manchester United has been an unhappy one. Picture: Simon Stacpoole/Offside via Getty Images

Lionel Messi has been back to his mesmeric best this season. Picture: Aurelien Meunier/PSG via Getty Images

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In any walk of life, getting back together is always fraught with danger.

Ronaldo‘s reunion with Manchester United at the start of last season was borne out of necessity for both club and player, and the Stretford End, Old Trafford’s most vocal area of opinion, were giddy with adulation at the start of the rekindling. He scored on his return and did a TV interview in front of the stands where the questions could barely be heard.

He scored 18 goals last season in an underwhelming campaign, in which the team descended into a dysfunctional unit, playing like 11 strangers by the end of the season.

Manchester United are strangers no more.

Ronaldo, now an unfamiliar role player, is finding emotions hard to hold on to, as time gradually and slowly conquers a belligerent victim.

Another Thursday night at Old Trafford, another night toward the inevitable.

Originally published as Cristiano Ronaldo’s difficulties at Manchester United signal the end of a great career