Real Madrid Cristiano Ronaldo reacts during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Leganes at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Nov. 6, 2016. (Daniel Ochoa de Olza/AP Photo)
Cristiano Ronaldo recently said that his new five-year deal with Real Madrid will not be his last. The Portuguese superstar said he looks forward to more years playing at a top level with Madrid, saying he would like to still be playing ten years from now. Although the 31-year-old has shown signs of slowing down in recent years, Ronaldo is not far removed from his two most recent FIFA Ballon d’Or awards in 2013 and 2014. The striker has recently passed 500 goals for club and country and has become Real Madrid’s all-time goal scorer.
“I want to stay here and finish here,” Ronaldo proclaimed at the press conference announcing his new contract, saying “It is not my last contract, I want to keep going until I’m 41, but now the most important thing is this special moment that makes me happy and my family, too.”
After winning the Champions’ League with Real Madrid last year, the forward would lead unlikely dark horse Portugal to win the Euro Cup against France. It is hard to find another athlete in the soccer world who has done more this year in terms of quality achievements. All these wins lead me to believe that Ronaldo could be a legitimate contender for the Ballon d’Or this year as well if he continues to produce in the first half of the new season. Though Ronaldo has not been as prolific scoring as in years past, the competition between Ballon d’Or nominees is not very rich and if he can beat Lionel Messi in La Liga there could be a great chance he takes home the award given to the best male soccer player in the world.
Even though there has been a historic struggle over the award between Ronaldo and Messi, Cristiano says that he is just happy to continue playing for a winning club. “Winning the Champions League, Euro Cup and now renewing my contract….I’m living a dream year,” Cristiano said about the 2016 calendar year, “This is much more important than individual prizes.”
Joe Burns is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus. He can be reached via email at joseph.burns@uconn.edu.