Do you have the same misunderstanding about Cristiano Ronaldo?

It's so idiotic that there are people who think Ronaldo has done nothing beyond scoring goals in his career. 'He is just a goal scorer. Take away his goals and he will have nothing else' is a typical statement you hear every now and then. Of course, it can't be more wrong than this.

To start with, Ronaldo started his career as a wide midfielder. In his only season at Sporting CP and the first two years at Man Utd, he was playing as a midfielder. He was a great talent, but it was a raw talent as till about 19 years of age, he was a self made man. He could do all sorts of tricks, skills and flairs. He knew how to make the ball do what he wants. But him being a raw talent meant he knew how to play, but not where to play and when to play. SAF saw this, and his initial years were used to mature as a footballer. Thus, Ronaldo played a free role in the midfield. This can be seen from the fact that he scored only 20 goals in three seasons, yet he was the most expensive teenager in Premier League history.

In the middle two years at Man Utd, he was a traditional winger who used the flanks to generate goal scoring opportunities. He didn't have any goal scoring burden, but was used as a wide playmaker. This can be seen from the fact that he had only 35 goals in two seasons yet was in top three in the world in both Ballon d'Or and FIFA POTY rankings.

In the last two years at Man Utd, he played as an inside forward. He used his previous seasons to develop all his goalscoring ability and then put it to use in last two seasons. He was still more involved in playmaking but had the additional burden of sciring goals. This can be seen from the fact that he won a golden boot in this period.

Real Madrid days

At his prime, till about 2015 or so, he continued to be an inside forward. But in addition, he played as a traditional winger too. He was still the elite wide playmaker plus goalscorer, owing to an unsettled midfield. This can be seen from the fact that he has 90+ assists and 300+ goals in this period for Real Madrid.

From about 2016, he has been playing as a pure goalscorer. This is partly due to the fact that he is moulding his body to age better, and partly because there is no other reliable goalscorer but plenty of playmakers for Real Madrid. This can be seen from the fact that plenty of his goals come against top teams while his teammates hardly scores.

So here is a guy who as played as a wide midfielder, traditional winger, inside forward, a combination of both and as a striker. He has played a free role doing tricks and flairs like Dinho or Neymar, as a pure playmaker, as a goalscoring wide playmaker, a playmaking goalscorer and a pure goalscorer. And he absolutely nailed each and every one of the role. He has done so many different roles depending on the wants and needs of the team.

Yet, some of them have the audacity to say that he done for nothing except scoring goals in his career. Stuff like these happen when you let your hate of a player overtake normal sense.