Thread by @PrincipalOfBall

Cristiano Ronaldo's playing Positions and Roles throughout his career.

[Updated THREAD]

There are some Haters/Messi fans/new football fans, who say Ronaldo always been striker throughout his career & compare CR7's Goal ratio to Messi, started watching football from 2020 or they just want to drag CR7. I am going to analyse actual truth with proof & facts.

First learn the difference between 'Inverted' wingers (modern day winger-forwards) and PURE/Traditional wingers(Wide Midfielders)

PURE/Traditional wingers = Right/Left Midfielders
Inverted wingers = Left/Right wing-forwards

(MessivsRonaldo app)

Since modern football is all about LWF/RWF in 4-3-3, that's why people associate the term Wingers with them. Traditional wingers/Wide Midfielders were mostly used in the past. If a right footed player is place on right side in '4-4-2' formation, he's outright a WIDE MIDFIELDER.

When A player plays on Right side in '4-3-3' formation that makes him an Inverted winger (RWF) & same with left side(LWF).

But when a player plays on Right side in '4-4-2' formation that makes him a traditional/Pure winger (Right Midfielder) and same with left side(LMF)

Here is the difference of Roles between Inverted wingers and Wide Midfielders (traditional/PURE wingers)

(MessivsRonaldo app)

Cristiano Ronaldo began his career in Midfield as Right Midfielder(traditional winger) in '4-4-2' formation, using his blistering pace and immense trickery to run and beat defenders, before looking to provide for the striker(s)

Back in 2003 when Ronaldo was signed by Man United, Beckham had just been sold and left a berth on the right side of the mid. Ronaldo came and took over his position. He was a kid with dazzling skills and swept fans off their feet with his play on debut

When Ronaldo went to Manchester United in 2003/04, he was usually on the right hand side of a '4-4-2' formation with Giggs on the left flank who was Left midfielder.

His main role was to beat defenders with pace & skills; a role he seemed a perfect fit for with his frightening pace and skill. 'His role wasn't producing G/A'. He prioritized skills, showboating, defending more then.

Saha played occasionally as SS then. With Nistelrooy as the focal point of the attack, link-up play was limited, meaning "Ronaldo’s goal threat was largely restricted to Long shots and set-pieces" (of his 6 goals in his debut PL season, 3 were outside the box and 2 were headers)

In his first season, he won FA Cup & Man Utd player of the year while scoring only '6 goals' in 40 appearances as Midfielder. In 2004 Ronaldo was named in UEFA TOTY as a RMF, this time winning it without scoring a single goal in the UCL

Those who always giving this video saying Ronaldo said he was a 'pure winger'. Learn how football positions work first

He said "𝗣𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿" Which means Traditional winger ("𝗪𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗠𝗶𝗱𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿"). Even wing-backs are called wingers

In his first few seasons in England however, he started to gain a reputation as 'Ultimate Showman' who often made one step-over too many, didn’t always release the ball when he should have. Ronaldo being right footed was placed at right side in 4-4-2, LMF/RMF acts as 3rd CM.

Rio Ferdinand stating: “We all saw his huge potential. When he came here, his first thought was to entertain. We wanted to win. We knew that if he had an end product we had a far better chance of being successful....⤵️

↪️....we were kicking the entrainment factor out of him to get goals and assists.”

By 2007, he was an important part of Man Utd’s attack, but 'still playing a Supporting Role - not yet their primary goal threat'.

Following World Cup 2006 tournament, Cristiano was rumoured to be wanting a move to Real Madrid before Alex Ferguson travelled to Portugal to ensure him that he would be an important part of Man UTD attack following RVN’s departure.

In 2006/07 season Ronaldo gained a lot more freedom as an Supporting Attacker. It was a dynamic counter-attacking system. He was more concerned with directness and efficiency rather than tricks and skills.

This was the start of Ronaldo’s transition to a different player. He won record all Six individual English awards in the same season and was Ranked 2nd in Ballon d'Or.

In 2007/08, Ronaldo completed his transformation from Tricky Showboater to Ruthless Wide-Attacker and best player in the world.

Tevez joined the attack that season and formed an incredibly effective counter-attacking trident with Rooney and Ronaldo.

Cristiano finished with a record-equalling 31 Premier League goals as Right Wide attacker. He won both UCL & EPL as Best player & Topscorer.

Ronaldo’s starting position continued to be on the right for the majority of his United years. In 2008/09 he played more deeper than previous season.

Here is a video of SAF talking about Ronaldo who was close to breaking Lampard record of goals as a Midfielder (he went on to break it)

In 2018, Manchester United officially released a list of their all time greatest EPL XI. Ronaldo was voted as best Traditional/Pure Right-winger (Right Midfielder) in the club's history.

google.com/amp/s/www.manu…

⭐ UEFA TOTY appearance as a Midfielder :

1. Iniesta : 6 times
2. Cristiano Ronaldo : 5 times
3. Xavi : 5 times

Haters can cry us a river, but they can't change truths & facts.

In 2019, Cristiano Ronaldo was named The Best Foreign Midfielder in EPL History by Legends like Allan Shearer, Gullit, Sutton and Rory Smith.

Ronaldo broke Best's record of most goals in a season for United(42) officially still positioned as Right Midfielder. As I said at this time he was already getting used as Wide attacker in many matches.

▪️Jack Grealish picked Cristiano Ronaldo as The Greatest Premier League Midfielder.

Watch from 6.14 ⤵️

2006/07 FIFPRO World XI

From Manchester United Magazine in 2008

Just a video of more info. In this video you can also see the difference of heatmaps between Forward Ronaldo and Right midfielder Ronaldo at 1.12 min.

He started several games on the Left, but it was only when he went to Real Madrid that this became his Primary Starting position but as Inverted Winger

Now Right footed Ronaldo started playing as Inverted Winger on left side in 4-3-3 formation from 2010. This commonplace inverted winger role theoretically allowed Ronaldo to take many shots with his strong foot. The left winger-forward role has been Cristiano’s home ever since.

Cristiano Ronaldo heatmap in 2010/11 is Unreal. He was given more of a Free-role, picking the ball up deeper on the left, on the right and through the middle. how in the hell did he score 60+ goals in 11/12 playing like this 🤯

Jose Mourinho explaining about Winger Ronaldo and False 9 Messi's Positions & scoring rate

In early 2014, Cristiano Ronaldo was diagnosed with a chronic knee condition called Tendinosis. It's a heavy injury that has no cure and gets worse over time.

He started decreasing Workrate & stopped excessive dribbling. But his Wing position & Role were same. Then Ronaldo clashed with Payet on the same injured knee in 2016 Euro Final. It damaged his knee ligament, making his knee overall weaker than before.

The heatmaps of Cristiano Ronaldo during his early years at Real Madrid. Proper Left Inverted Winger with defensive responsibilities.

Then in 2017 Zidane made him LCF for Isco's position on CAM in his final two seasons at Real Madrid. But Cristiano still mainly gravitates to the left wing during build-up play, and often attempts to carry the ball into the box.

Ronaldo was never a primary striker at Juve. He played with pure Strikers Mandzukic,Higuain,Morata.

Under Allegri, he was a LWF in 4-3-3 & shadow ST in a 3-5-2
Under Sarri, he played as a LW in a 4-3-3 (Few times as CF)
Under Pirlo, he was a Free roaming LCF in a 3-5-2, 4-4-2

Cristiano Ronaldo again played as Left Winger in his first season(2018/19) at Juve. With Mandzukic as ST and Dybala. Those who never watch him or don't know about his position at Juve say otherwise.

Heatmap and playing position in 18/19 season -

“Poacher” “Has always been a goalscorer” “Camps in the box”

The narratives used by his haters that they don’t watch him play full-time or they are brainless trollers.

He never was a box ST before his EPL return. His heatmaps (19/20 & 20/21).

This is the proof that Ronaldo isn't a pure #9 (2019-22). He likes to drift inside the box but he never was purely a poacher like Haaland/Lewa. He used to do many things.

This is what a poacher's heatmap looks like. *"Even forget heatmap if you watch Cristiano's full-time matches in Juve you can see he was most of the times on the Wings."*

Coach Sarri: “Ronaldo wants to play wide..that’s his preference and that is normal..Analysing it we decided to try with Paulo Dybala in a more central position...”

In the Simple terms,

Ronaldo was a more of a Right Midfielder from 2002-2007 for 5 years. He played 192+ matches as an actual Right tricky Midfielder excluding International matches. Then more of a Wide attacker from 2007/08 onwards....

Haters & New football fans are under the FALSE IMAGE that Ronaldo always been Striker. They are Falsely Brainwashing people. Either they started watching football from 2021 or they are just Haters.

THIS THREAD PROVES THEM WRONG. ✅

Source - messivsronaldo app, The Guardian, Man United official site, UEFA Official site, some video footages & Some articles etc.

END of the thread. Thank you for reading.

All supports and retweets are appreciated.