Back Again but Different: Cristiano Ronaldo Entering Crossover Year at Madrid

The pictures of him training through the summer heat of Madrid in a jumper might have suggested otherwise, but Cristiano Ronaldo can't continue what he's been doing until now. 

He's said so himself. 

"I like playing, [but] people say to me: 'Cris, you're not 20...'" he said back in May to Jugones (h/t AS), ahead of Real Madrid's clash with Atletico Madrid in the Champions League final. "It's something I have to learn to do, to tell myself to stop every two or three games."

If Ronaldo had been gradually coming to such a realisation ahead of that night in Milan, his experience at the San Siro will have strengthened it. Though he walked away as a champion of the competition for the third time, his final wasn't the sort he would have wanted personally, hobbled by injury and unable to exert the influence he expects of himself.

That wasn't new, either.

Two years ago, Ronaldo's contribution to the corresponding game in 2014 in Lisbon was strikingly similar as he fought through lingering knee and thigh problems. The World Cup that followed became another battle with his own body, and in a sense his campaign at Euro 2016 this summer was the same. 

The evidence is growing. In two of the last three seasons, Ronaldo has reached the finish line looking almost like a victim of his own relentless streak, worn down by a natural drive that in a way has become problematic. You sense he knows it now, too, that he needs to let up sometimes; that he now has physical limitations he once didn't; that it's not in his interests to continue going this hard, this fiercely; that the season ahead represents a crossover year.  

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It's important that he's the one who's made that realisation, too. 

For Ronaldo's recent managers, his refusal to yield has been a delicate issue as seasons have played out. Carlo Ancelotti never stated it publicly, but Zinedine Zidane has. 

When the Real Madrid forward left the pitch at the Bernabeu in the dying minutes of his team's victory over Villarreal in April with the injury that would bother him until the night in Milan, Zidane spoke of the battle a manager at Madrid faces between wanting to use and protect his greatest asset. 

"Sometimes I regret not taking off Cristiano earlier [in games] so he doesn't go through this," the Frenchman said. "A player like Cristiano, sometimes he should rest, not finish a game, or sit it out. But he always wants to be out on the pitch."

Zidane's use of "always" was absolutely correct, too. Until Ronaldo went down that night, he was the only outfield player in LaLiga to have completed every minute of the season to that point. Around him, younger and theoretically more durable legs hadn't even got close to such a record, but it's that sort of self-imposed workload that's becoming counter-productive. 

Often, Ronaldo speaks of his desire to retire at Madrid and to play into his late 30s and even early 40s. "I'll hang up my boots when I'm 41 or thereabouts," he said ahead of the Champions League final. Whether that's realistic is debatable, but the intent is there regardless.

Fulfilling it, though, requires careful planning and an adjusted focus.

Entering his eighth season in the Spanish capital, the 31-year-old has reached a point at which longevity lies with the acceptance that, physically, his sense of invincibility is fading. Thirty-eight starts in LaLiga is no longer practical, and nor is pushing himself to the limit to every whistle. 

For the first time in his career, the looming season is one in which Ronaldo needs to pick his moments. His task from here is to not simply be dominant but recognise when it is necessary to be so, and though that will be a learning process as he admitted himself, the squad around him will help with that. 

Not since 2011-12 has Madrid's ensemble looked this strong. On the back of another European title, the club has added Alvaro Morata and Marco Asensio to a squad that's not only loaded but also more balanced and settled than it's been for some time. 

That's significant for Ronaldo at this juncture. With strength and a greater feeling of direction around him, he can afford to approach his season with a hint of conservatism, taking the odd precaution and trusting others to get it done. 

And trust is important here. 

When Ronaldo uttered his much-criticised line last season about his "level" following defeat to Atletico in the derby amid a string of injuries, there was a subtle recognition from the Portuguese that was too easily glossed over.

"[It's difficult] when your best players aren't there, [like Gareth] Bale, [Karim] Benzema," he said post-match. "I like playing with Karim, with Bale, with Marcelo. I'm not saying that Jese, Lucas [Vazquez] or [Mateo] Kovacic aren't good players, but to win a competition you need your best players."

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At times with team-mates, and particularly with Bale, you've sensed Ronaldo has seen a competitor rather than an ally. But if that ever was the case, it doesn't look to be now. 

Bale's progress last season altered things. As the campaign drew on and as his injury niggles subsided, the Welshman began to grow into the player his club had envisaged him to be, seemingly changing not only how he looked at himself but also how his team-mates looked at him, Ronaldo among them.

The Portuguese's post-derby comments said as much despite it being missed amid the rush to condemn. From Madrid's No. 1, there was a new-found trust being expressed, an admission that Bale—and by extension, others—can help him as much as he can help them. 

Reinforcing that will be part of Ronaldo's crossover in 2016-17. 

By relinquishing a degree of control, by picking his moments a little more, by making it easier for Zidane to lighten his workload, Ronaldo can work towards a sort of less-is-more existence, concurrently empowering those around him and prolonging his own excellence. 

In recent years there have been some stylistic and positional transitions for the Portuguese, but this term the slight shift will need to be about mindset more than anything else. What's got him here has been an astonishing drive and appetite for work, but as he's acknowledged himself, he's not 20 anymore. He can't continue to go and go and then go again, pushing his body to where others don't.

Recent seasons have shown the toll that takes. Now, two games into this season, he returns: Back again, but a little different, too.

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