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Even as someone who has never really liked Ronaldo, the highlights of him banging in four goals past truly pitiful defending in unremarkable Saudi Arabian stadiums are quite tough to watch.
Largely considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, Ronaldo’s career has taken a nose dive over the last year or so, as he was benched at Manchester United before ultimately being released.
Then, after being unable to find a home among Europe’s elite clubs, Ronaldo signed a behemoth deal with Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr (reportedly worth $75 million per year), clearly indicating he’s in the cashing-in stage of his twilight.
After taking longer than he should have to start scoring, Ronaldo scored four in his last match and the highlights are legitimately sad to watch. Regardless of what you think of him — and, again, I’ve *always* been a Messi guy — seeing an all-time great flame out to this extent is an undeniable bummer.
What makes Ronaldo’s fall from grace even more notable is that Messi, his longtime rival who is still competing at the game’s highest level at Paris Saint-Germain, has been having a banner year after lifting the World Cup trophy with Argentina. To be fair, though, Messi is three years younger than Ronaldo.
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