Is Cristiano Ronaldo's Crown Slipping at Real Madrid or Is Form Dip Mere Blip?
The score was 3-2 and the venue was the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan, only on this occasion the three belonged to Real Madrid.
It was May earlier this year, and on a pivotal night in La Liga's title race, a hat-trick from Cristiano Ronaldo had steered Madrid past Sevilla at their notoriously difficult home—the site where not a single visiting side had left triumphant in more than a year.
Therefore, the night was a significant one, and for Ronaldo it wasn't just any hat-trick.
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The first goal of the three was a smart header after some ghostly movement, the second had come when he'd attacked the back post, poking home Javier Hernandez's flicked-on header and the third was majestic but in a new kind of way, a looping header beating Sergio Rico with grace, precision—an almost delicate quality.
The hat-trick was a defining one. For almost 12 months to that point, we'd been observing an evolutionary period for the Portuguese, watching him move closer to goal as his game became more concentrated and precise, his method narrowing but his influence being maintained.
On football's style spectrum, his evolution had been taking him from stormtrooper to hitman, and here the hat-trick against Sevilla felt as though it represented something important: The completion of the evolutionary process.
On the night, Ronaldo had taken the fewest touches of any Real Madrid player to complete 90 minutes, but it hadn't mattered. His touches had been the decisive ones. His game had been devastating even though his involvement had been fleeting.
It was the new Ronaldo in its purest form.
And thus, we return to the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan.
Prior to the international break, the scoreline there had again read 3-2, but this time the three was Sevilla's instead of Madrid's. Sevilla's instead of Ronaldo's.
From 1-0 up, Madrid had collapsed with an alarming lack of resistance, and in Ronaldo, their reference point had grown ineffectual, almost anonymous—on the sort of stage where he's thrived, against the opponent he's torched more than any other.
Again, a night in the Andalusian capital felt defining, but this time in a different way. In May, it had felt like the completion of something. This time, it felt like a beginning.
A beginning of what?
A beginning of the...yeah, that.
In the midst of the October international break, it was argued by this writer that Real Madrid needn't be concerned over an early-season dip in scoring for Ronaldo, that the underlying cause of a so-called slump was the way a recalibrating Madrid under Rafa Benitez were still yet to define their collective identity.
And in isolation, that's probably still true.
In the four games that followed that break, the Portuguese scored in three and went within inches of doing so in the other at Parc des Princes.
Overall, his record at club level reads 13 goals in 15 games this season, and that's come despite a spate of high-profile injuries depriving Madrid of power, continuity and, most of all, fluency—the quality Ronaldo's game is becoming more dependent on.
By season's end, most expect his goal tally to once again be impressive, and few will back against him in that regard. And yet, that's not the point here—not quite. It feels as if there's something else at play, something in the bigger picture between player and club.
Marca's J.L. Calderon called it "bad vibes," a situation that's "more about feelings." And that's sort of it, isn't it?
Watching Ronaldo in recent games against Paris Saint-Germain and Sevilla has been an uncomfortable experience. Against the French outfit, he cut a figure of isolation. Against the Andalusians, he cut one of frustration.
On both occasions, there was an unshakeable feeling of detachment between Ronaldo and those around him—both in a literal sense and a figurative one—a disengagement that felt as though it went beyond the confines of the white lines.
"He's played every minute, but more in body than in spirit," wrote Calderon.
Could it be, then, that the strikingly passive display at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan represents the beginning of what was alluded to before? Are we watching the opening stages of Ronaldo relinquishing his crown? Of a gradual separation? Have both parties recognised an uneasy truth?
Are Real Madrid considering a future without the player who's become the club's modern definition? Is Ronaldo considering his without them?
These are naturally difficult questions, but they need to be asked. Those "bad vibes" have created their existence, and a string of events have helped to do so.
When the star forward's film, Ronaldo, premiered in London, the absence of a Real Madrid presence didn't go unnoticed. Neither did the exchange with PSG manager Laurent Blanc. Neither did the filmed confrontation between Ronaldo and president Florentino Perez. Neither did Ronaldo's public support for Carlo Ancelotti. Neither has his lack of obvious rapport with Benitez and Gareth Bale—two men in whom Perez has a vested interest.
Certainly, these incidents might be overblown and not indicative that an awkward future is approaching. But by the same token, they might not be, and it's the on-field evidence that's giving them a sense of credence.
On the pitch, the sensations aren't right, the mood is off. That feeling of detachment is palpable and goes beyond numbers, goals, records and any other numerical indicators. It's uncomfortable to consider, yes, given who we're talking about, but there was something in that performance at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan.
The corresponding one in May had seen something completed. Did this one represent a beginning?
