Cristiano Ronaldo Has Persistent Knee Problem, Says Guillem Balague

Real Madrid’s star forward Cristiano Ronaldo has persistent issues with his knees that prevent him from practising set pieces, according to Sky Sports Spanish football expert Guillem Balague.

Balague was speaking on Sunday after Ronaldo notched his ninth Primera Division goal of the season, against Eibar, insisting the 30-year-old will have to adapt his game as he gets older due to a gradual deterioration in physicality:

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I think Ronaldo is going down physically, he has peaked. He has demanded lot of his body from very early on.

He went to the gym a lot when he didn't need to. He was self-learning as he was going along which perhaps meant he overexerted himself with weights, something he perhaps shouldn't have done. 

You see his body is not the body of a football player and he has constant pain in his knees. With that comes less practising from set pieces.

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Balague went on to categorise Ronaldo as an out-and-out centre-forward at the moment, suggesting he is “perhaps the best goalscorer in history” alongside the likes of Jimmy Greaves and Gerd Muller. There certainly have been some key stylistic tweaks that will likely affect how the Portuguese will be used in teams going forward.

During his days at Manchester United, the Old Trafford faithful used to sing about Ronaldo running down the wing. Now, he’s at his best inside the penalty area, finishing off chances created for him with his sharp instincts and getting into prosperous positions using the dynamism he still possesses. But he’s no longer an orthodox winger.

As we can see here, courtesy of Squawka, although Ronaldo is arguably a little past his best, his statistics still make for impressive reading:

Indeed, the process Ronaldo is going through is something a lot of players endure. There are few in the game who play the same roles the same way throughout the entirety of their careers, and it’s testament to the Portuguese he has remained such a critical presence in the final third for so long regardless of how he makes his mark.

There will be some Madridistas concerned by the revelations about Ronaldo’s knees, though. Not being able to practise free-kicks because of discomfort is never a good sign.

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It might be time to take the talisman off set pieces. As Ben McAleer of WhoScored.com noted in response to ESPN FC's Dermot Corrigan, the routine is growing pretty tiresome when Ronaldo stands over a dangerous free-kick opportunity:

Madrid manager Rafael Benitez is struggling to get the best from a less vibrant but equally clinical Ronaldo at the moment, something his predecessor, Carlo Ancelotti, was excellent at doing. It’s a process that may take time, but as Balague noted, the forward is becoming the man to finish attacks, whereas in the past he’d start them too.

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This is not a slant on Ronaldo, as he remains a magnificent goal getter. If there are concerns about his knee, it’ll be intriguing to see just how much they hinder him in years to come, but at the moment, it looks likely he’ll remain a decisive influence in Madrid matches for a long time yet.

Relinquishing some responsibility may be the biggest challenge for Ronaldo in his full conversion from enterprising winger to poacher extraordinaire, as his undesirable record from free-kicks seems to suggest.