Thread by @SelecaoTalk

Debunking the Myth about Ronaldo 🇧🇷 in the UEFA Champions League:
(Analysis & Context)

When Ronaldo first arrived in Europe it was only the League Winners that qualified for the UEFA Champions League, unlike today.

He joined PSV in the summer of 1994, that season they would play UEFA Cup football.

They would lose 5-4 on aggregate to Bayer Leverkusen in the first round of the UEFA Cup - with Ronaldo scoring 3 of PSV’s 4 goals. (Away hattrick)

Ronaldo would finish that season as PSV top scorer with 35 goals.

The following season in 95/96 PSV were once again playing UEFA Cup football having finished 3rd in the Dutch league.

They went out 5-4 on aggregate to Barcelona with Ronaldo missing both games through injury. He scored 6 goals & registered 2 assists in 5 games that UEFA Cup.

Ronaldo would spend the second half the of the season with PSV on the sideline with a knee injury. He finished the season with 19 goals in 21 games.

Ronaldo moved to Barcelona in the summer of 1996. They had finished the season before in 3rd place in La Liga and had qualified for the UEFA Cup Winners Cup.

Again no Champions League Football.

By May Ronaldo guided them to a Spanish Super Cup, UEFA Cup Winners Cup & Copa Del Rey Win, finishing 2nd in La Liga 2 points behind Real Madrid.

Ronaldo finished the UEFA Cup Winners Cup scoring 5 goals in 7 games including the winner in the final. 47 goals in all competitions

Arguably nearing the peak of his powers, that year he would go onto win the Ballon d’Or and World Footballer of the Year Award. Yet he still hadn’t played Champions League Football.

In the summer of 1997 Ronaldo joined Inter Milan for a then world record transfer fee, $27million.

Inter had finished 3rd the season before and qualified for the UEFA Cup.

Ronaldo once again guided them to glory scoring 6 goals in 11 games: one in the final, 2 in the SF and 2 in the QF. Inters top scorer with 34 in all competitions. Finishing 2nd in Serie A behind Juventus.

He was now 4 years into his European adventure and 6 years into his his professional career.

Back to back European Trophies, the best footballer on the planet, a Ballon d’Or, World Player of the Year Award, lite up a World Cup.

But still no UEFA Champions League football.

The UEFA Cup victory qualified Inter & Ronaldo into the Champions League for the 98/99 season. However his season was plagued with injuries.

Only playing 90 minutes once, Ronaldo scored 1 goal in 6 games missing the 2-0 away defeat to Manchester United in the quarter final.

Ronaldo did however score/assist 3 of Inter Milan’s 5 goals in the UEFA Champions League that year while on the pitch.

But he would miss over 30 games that season for club and country through injury. Inter would finish 8th in Serie A.

The following season 1999/2000 would see Ronaldo suffer the first of his horrific injuries. With no European football & playing just 8 games in total for Inter.

Ronaldo would go onto miss the entire 2000/01 season through injury too. Not playing a single minute.

Dark times.

Again stricken by injuries, he would play just 16 games in the 2001/02 season for Inter, missing 7 of Inter’s 11 UEFA Cup games. Managing just 28, 39, 11, 20 & 68 minutes in the games he did play. Inter would go out to Feyenoord in the Semi Final.

The summer of 2002 saw Ronaldo defy the odds and score 8 goals in 7 World Cup games, lifting the trophy in Japan.

Having playing just 24 club games in the previous 3 years.

2002/03 saw Ronaldo move to Real Madrid.

Scoring 6 Goals & registering 3 Assists in 11 games that year in the UCL. Despite only playing the full 90 minutes once. A goal contribution every 84.6 minutes.

After 9 years in Europe, just his 2nd UEFA Champions League campaign.

Including that infamous hattrick & standing ovation at Old Trafford.

He reached the semi final that year, scoring at home vs Juventus but going off injured after 49 minutes. They would lose the 2nd leg in Turin 3-1 with Ronaldo only seeing 38 minutes of action off the bench.

Ronaldo in fact, Scored/Assisted 9 of Real Madrids 16 UCL goals in the 2002/03 season. 56.25%.

A fantastic return.

The 2003/04 season saw Ronaldo and Real Madrid go out to Monaco in the QF on away goals.

With Ronaldo scoring 4 goals in 9 games. The 9th top scorer in the competition.

2004/05: Ronaldo scored 1 goal and register 3 assists in 8 Champions League games before going out to Juventus in the last 16.

Directly involved in 33.3% of Real Madrids UCL goals that season when on the pitch.

2005/06: the injuries hit again.

Ronaldo missed the entire UCL group stage through injury, returning for the last 16 game Vs Arsenal. Losing 1-0 over 2 legs, with Real Madrid failing to score.

He would play just the 2 Champions League games that season.

2006/07: Ronaldo’s final UEFA Champions League Campaign.

He played just the 4 European games before a January transfer to Milan.

18, 12 & 16 minutes in his first 3 games, then scoring both goals in a 2-2 draw in his final ever UCL game vs Dynamo.

Milan would get to the final and win if that year but he would watch from the sideline cup tied.

Ronaldo missed the entire 2007/08 UCL campaign for Milan through injury as they went out in the last 16 to Arsenal.

A 15 year career in Europe and Ronaldo would play only 6 of those seasons in the UEFA Champions League.

Only one of them came at his peak.

In only 4 of them did he get consistent minutes not plagued by injury.

To put it into context:

Cristiano Ronaldo has played 19 individual seasons of UEFA Champions League Football since 2003.

If the same rules had applied, and only league winners qualified, he would have only appeared 6 times.

On the surface Ronaldo scored just 16 goals and provided 10 assists in 42 UCL games ever the course of his entire career. Even failing to reach a final.

But closer inspection of the numbers tell a different story.

The Reality is, Ronaldo played just 33.8 full 90’s.

He scored or assisted 55% of all his teams goals while on the pitch.

A direct goal contribution every 117 minutes.

A very good return.

Ronaldo spent his peak in the late 90’s playing & winning the UEFA Cup & Cup Winners Cup.

While many of his UCL campaigns where plagued with injuries. He only really had a consistent 3 years of UEFA Champions League football at Real Madrid, past his physical and technical best.

Taking everything into account Ronaldo’s UEFA Champions League Career is far more impressive that it looks at first glance.

It’s important to remember.

Like in every sport, the best doesn’t always win, whether that’s teams in knockout competitions or players not winning the titles people expected of them. There’s a very big difference between perfomance and achievement.

They are linked but they can also be two different things.

An understanding football places responsibility on analysing perfomance as the ultimate judge.

Not whether someone has a trophy on their CV or not.

Applying and comparing modern football directly to previous era’s also doesn’t work, you cannot compare players of previous generations by modern standards, because the circumstances are entirely different.

And in doing so you remove all context.

Correction: 7 times*