For many years, I stayed completely away from the game due to heartbreak over Nigeria’s loss to Italy at USA ’94. I just couldn’t get over that incident, and when Atlanta ’96 came, I only heard about it on the radio. Watching Austin Okocha play at USA ’94, I had developed a liking for his style of play, and had I not seen players like Zinedine Zidane and Cristiano Ronaldo, I would probably have been a fan of Lionel Messi. Watching highlights of CR7, though, I saw terrific speed, positioning, and long-range shots that looked like lightning. I had seen our own Rashidi Yekini, Roberto Baggio, Dunga, R9, and Cafu play, but there was something completely different in the way this Ronaldo played. He played like a hurricane!

But how did I discover CR7? Through his haters. As someone who no longer watched football, I heard about the arrogance and insufferable attitude of one Manchester United player called Ronaldo, and the humility of a certain Argentine angel called Messi. Then, much later, I took my time to watch highlights from both. Messi was great, but I just couldn’t believe the things I was seeing Ronaldo do: making insane runs, shooting from seemingly impossible angles, producing fiery headers, banging in goals with either foot, engaging in killer positioning in front of goal, and, of course, producing silky feints and stepovers. In dribbles that actually led to a goal, the Portuguese was ahead by miles. Moreover, I saw a determination to push forward even in extremely difficult situations, and an awesome, unprecedented exercise regime and dedication to the game. At the time, CR7, as they call him, was already at Real Madrid. I discovered, to my shock, that there was a clear anti-Ronaldo agenda by the media, FIFA, and other authorities, who later gave Luka Modrić a Ballon d’Or just to prevent Ronaldo from overtaking their princess.

I saw that if CR7 scored a hat-trick, the critics still found it necessary to blame him for it. Yet in 438 matches, the king from Portugal scored 450 goals for the Spanish giants! I saw the man they called arrogant happily taking pictures with physically challenged people after matches, making fans feel at ease, and even donating his personal funds to different charitable causes without making any noise about it. To cap it all, I read about him donating blood. While his style of play was flamboyant, I saw nothing in his relationship with people that suggested the slightest shred of arrogance. Then I considered the media hatred and insane jealousy of certain Barcelona fans. In later years, I saw certain haters mocking Ronaldo for losing a child while playing for Manchester United!

Now, let’s come to the present. The following is from the blog called Sports Illustrated: “Former World Cup winner Thierry Henry succinctly dismantled Cristiano Ronaldo’s limp performance in Portugal’s disappointing draw with DR Congo by repeating the same scathing message: ‘The team needs to score, not you.’ Henry has worn an expression of near-permanent disdain throughout his first week as a Fox Sports pundit. Alexi Lalas’s deliberately brash statements have chiefly been the source of that scorn, but it was Ronaldo’s disastrous showing for Portugal which inspired Henry’s latest rebuke.”

Ronaldo disastrous against DRC? You can see that these are lunatics, not critics. The way Ronaldo’s haters have been prattling on about that game, you would think Portugal lost it. Thierry Henry, a player I used to have so much respect for, has never hidden his hatred for Ronaldo, but this particular ‘analysis’ was pure lunacy. He was basically blaming Ronaldo for not having another eye at the back of his head to see that Bruno Fernandes was behind him while trying to take a shot at goal. This is the same Thierry Henry who, with Zlatan Ibrahimović, reacted with so much bile and walked away after the influencer, Speed, predicted that Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal would win the World Cup. Henry is a professional Ronaldo hater. Over the years, he has given ample indication that he will never get over the bitterness that arose from his past encounters with the then-young Ronaldo on the field of play. Like Rio Ferdinand recently said, there’s never been a sparkle on his face while discussing Ronaldo. By the way, while Henry was actually a phenomenal player, Ronaldo’s left leg is bigger than his entire career, so I don’t see what exactly qualifies him to lecture Ronaldo. Just how do you teach the greatest goalscorer in history how to score a goal? That’s like the bartender AOC teaching Elon Musk how to make money.

Each time Portugal is playing, Messi’s fans instantly turn into emergency protectors of Portugal, shouting that Ronaldo—the same man who made Portugal what it is today, and without whom Portugal are just an average side—must be dropped. They say that Ronaldo is holding Portugal back and must be benched, but cannot answer the key question: “Benched for whom?” Portugal have won three titles with Ronaldo, and can these haters remind me who was their best player in those tournaments? Ronaldo scored in the final of Portugal’s latest triumph and practically dragged Portugal to the World Cup once again, and yet, somehow, he is the problem? By the way, as Messi fans, why are you suddenly in love with Portugal? Shouldn’t you stick with your GOAT, for whom FIFA blatantly rigged the 2022 World Cup with dubious penalties? Why not stick with your GOAT, who crushed an Algerian defender’s leg without any sanction at the ongoing Club World Cup? If Messi is the GOAT, why do you keep obsessing over CR7?

If Ronaldo is holding Portugal back, is that not in your interest as a Messi fan? And remind me, what did Portugal ever achieve without Ronaldo? These guys, out of hatred, will always say another Portuguese player is the country’s best, but will never proclaim any other player Argentina’s best outside of Messi. When Messi does an interview, it does not interest them, but let CR7 cough, and they begin foaming at the mouth as usual! This has to be a form of mental disease.

Ronaldo’s fans should stop caring about what haters say about Ronaldo. Stop watching their videos. Stop feeding Ronaldo haters. Make them go bankrupt. For more than 25 years, ESPN has been cursing and raging at CR7, yet you keep watching them? Why does any Ronaldo fan have to click any news item promoting bile against Ronaldo?

Cristiano, use your power against the haters. Ask your supporters to stop clicking any news by ESPN and other haters, and these haters will literally go bankrupt. Let them make money by deodorising their god, the man who caused a teammate to be thrown out of the Argentina team’s WhatsApp group simply for scoring against his team in the MLS. The future will surely unravel the fraud.

A last line for Bruno Fernandes: Keep hating and disrespecting CR7. Your tears lie in the future.