Cristiano Ronaldo is the ultimate footballing machine.
Say what you like about him in the never-ending debate with Lionel Messi, but there's arguably never been a footballer who ticks as many boxes as the Juventus and Portugal forward.
Ask any of Ronaldo's former teammates and they'll speak in great length about his dedication to the beautiful game, always arriving first to training and working tirelessly on his physique at home.
Not only has that launched him to the status of a five-time Ballon d'Or winner, but it's also ensured that he remains one of the world's best despite being closer to his 40th birthday than his 30th.
It means that Ronaldo is freakishly fast, strong, athletic and supple for his age, regularly outpacing, outmuscling and out-jumping players who are sometimes more than a decade his junior.
The ultimate footballing machine
But aside from his more primordial physical attributes, Ronaldo has also displayed his burgeoning oeuvre of football skills in the many ways he's able to find the back of the net.
At the end of the day, Ronaldo will be remembered most for being one of the greatest goal-scorers of all time and one of the keys to 700+ career goals has been the diversity of his finishing.
We're all aware that Ronaldo has dynamite in his right foot and that his NBA-like jumping makes him lethal in the air, but it's easy to forget that the Portuguese also boasts a mean left foot.
Ronaldo's best left-footed goals
As much as football fans would like to imagine that every professional player earning hundreds-of-thousands a week have trained themselves to be two-footed, that's simply not the case.
Ronaldo isn't exactly on Santi Cazorla's level, granted, but some of the goals he's produced with his weak foot are better than many genuinely left-footed players have managed to score.
Don't believe us? Well, Twitter user @Iam_Ineffable has compiled all the evidence into a superb montage of Ronaldo's greatest weak foot goals to the tune of 4,900 'likes' and 1,300 retweets.
And when you see the sort of goals that fly off Ronaldo's left boot, then you'll understand why, so check out the full compilation below:
Cristiano Ronaldo ● Best Left Foot Goals ●
Imagine striking a football that well with your weaker leg. Crazy.
It's stunning how Ronaldo manages to beat world-class goalkeepers from such long range when he's shooting with a disadvantage that would make most players fire a daisy-cutter wide of the post.
Plus, we just love his Champions League goals against Galatasaray and Schalke where he baffles the defender with step-overs before thrashing the ball home with his left peg.
In terms of the aforementioned Messi debate, it's certainly an area in which Ronaldo has an advantage and we'd imagine that's especially the case if you were asking Pele.
The legendary Brazilian once said of Messi and himself: "How can you make a comparison between a guy who heads the ball well, shoots with the left, shoots with the right and another who only shoots with one leg, only has one skill and doesn't head the ball well?"
Now that, we dare say, isn't an accusation you could lodge against Ronaldo.
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário