Fans worldwide have showered Cristiano Ronaldo with praise for his unwavering dedication and competitive spirit, even after losing the Copa del Rey final in Saudi Arabia.
“I’ve seen many people saying Ronaldo gets paid to cry,” commented the hwykes1 account on Reddit, garnering nearly 4,000 responses in agreement. “If he’s that good at acting, he could have won numerous Oscars instead of Ballon d’Ors.”
Reddit is the world’s leading social network, of which the football site has more than 6.6 million followers. Therefore, this can be considered the largest football forum.
Each account can upvote or downvote a post or comment, and approval is calculated by subtracting downvotes from approval. The comments with the highest number of approvals will be displayed at the top, below the posts. In the post about Ronaldo crying on the night of May 31, most of the top comments praised captain Al Nassr.
“I am surprised to see how much Ronaldo cares about this championship,” wrote the account Santa_Klaus_101 and was accepted by more than 1,300 people. “I could play in the amateur tournament and still be devastated after every loss. In the long run, this title will pale in comparison to his legacy. And if he wins the Cup, no one will look back at his legacy and mention this. title, but for Ronaldo this Cup has great meaning.
Ronaldo did not score, but impressed in the match with a back hook that bounced off the post early in the second half, in an apparent offside position. In the penalty shootout he also shot, but three teammates missed. There were two occasions when Al Nassr could have decided his fate in the penalty shoot-out, but he fell to glory, when Alex Telles, Ali Al Hassan and Meshari Al Nemer failed, causing the home team to lose 4-5.
After the game, Ronaldo lay on the field sobbing, it took him a few minutes to get up. But when he left the field or sat in the technical area, the 39-year-old superstar cried. “Ronaldo has an enormous ability to win,” commented Garadcount . “Maybe he felt bad when he couldn’t beat Al Hilal in the last four meetings, helping this rival go undefeated in all domestic areas in the 2023-2024 season.”
The NewHealthFoodBunch account also agreed: “It’s surprising that Ronaldo still cares so much about this tournament, he wants to compete so much.” Shinsekai21 responded: “At first I thought Ronaldo would retire in Saudi Arabia with a salary of $220 million a year. But after seeing how much he tries, compared to the playing attitude of Karim Benzema or Neymar, I respect Ronaldo a lot.” . These comments were agreed upon by over 1,000 people.
Ronaldo has won 33 team titles, hundreds of individual awards and dozens of world records, notably five Champions Leagues, five Ballon d’Ors and the all-time scoring record of 893 goals. However, he shows no signs of retiring. “I wonder if Ronaldo can handle the feeling of retirement,” commented picadonoodlecat . “I live for competition, victory and trophies, there is nothing more meaningful.”
Although Ronaldo seemed depressed after the defeat in Jeddah, Al Nassr’s representative confirmed that the Portuguese striker will remain with the team during the 2024-2025 season. His contract with the team expires in the summer of 2025, with the option to extend for another year.
