Amidst the chaos of constant criticism over the past few weeks, Cristiano Ronaldo has had an incredibly difficult time coming to terms with his new reality of being a free agent.
The striker has faced harsh criticism from ex-teammates like Wayne Rooney and Gary Neville and has failed to find favour with football pundits all over the world.
The most recent controversy surrounding Ronaldo was his being benched by Portuguese coach Fernando Santos and being replaced by 21-year-old Goncalo Ramos who went on to script history as the player that beat Ronaldo to a hat-trick in the knockout stages of the FIFA World Cup.
That said, the jersey number 7 has called out his critiques saying that their criticism boils down to nothing but jealousy of his professional standing.
In fact, in his brutal all-out interview with Piers Morgan, the then-Manchester United hero publicly called out former teammate Wayne Rooney for engaging in unfair criticism of the player’s actions over the previous weeks at Old Trafford.
The free agent has, since, found a voice of support in a few prominent personalities in pro-football circles such as ex-United teammates and mentors Rio Ferdinand and Roy Keane along with Portuguese squad members among the likes of Bruno Fernandes and Danilo Pereira.
Presently, the football community is fairly divided over the Portuguese captain’s actions over the past weeks.
But, despite the criticism and accusations being levelled against Ronaldo, ex-teammate Mesut Ozil believes in the striker and in fact, took to Twitter to go on a full-fledged rant against CR7 critiques and their specious reasons to cavil about “one of the greatest athletes in sports history.”
Mesut Ozil, the German midfielder, shared the dressing room with Cristiano Ronaldo for a while in Real Madrid during their La Liga and Champions League supremacy.
Following an incredibly successful run at Los Blancos, Ozil was bought by the Gunners for EUR 50 million, making him the most expensive German footballer at the time.
After spending a little time with Fenerbahce, the attacking midfielder moved to Istanbul in 2022 to play among the ranks of İstanbul Başakşehir.
The 34-year-old German, on his Twitter profile, expressed his undying support for his 37-year-old Portuguese ex-teammate saying, “I really don’t get where this constant negativity from the press about Cristiano comes from … The Media is just trying to get clicks, and pundits who don’t have a career anymore just want to get attention with his big name and try to make him look bad…”
Ozil continued his outright fulmination in a 3-part Twitter thread, “He is soon 38 years old – so what’s the surprise that he doesn’t score 50 goals a season anymore? Every football fan out there should be happy to have seen him playing world class football for 20 years.
“I don’t think anyone from the new generation will be able to match his numbers again. He will forever be in his own category. Everyone should show more respect to one of the greatest athletes in sports history…”
The German midfielder has actually managed to verbalize precisely what Ronaldo received immense flak for and in the situation that Ronaldo is in, Ozil’s support is bound to make the Portuguese nostalgic for his days in Real Madrid’s dressing room.
