Cristiano Ronaldo Was Right to Talk Up His 'Level'; Now He's Backing It Up

The four goals against Celta Vigo were a statement, the manner of them was a statement, and the hand-to-hear gesture was a statement. And together, those statements backed up the statement.

"If everyone was at my level," a frustrated Cristiano Ronaldo had quipped in the aftermath of Real Madrid's derby defeat to Atletico Madrid in late February, "we'd be top."

Cue the outrage. The mocking.

If anything was inevitable in the wake of Ronaldo's post-derby comments, it was a tirade of finger-pointing, derision, Lionel Messi comparisons and frustratingly tired conclusions that Ronaldo is representative of everything that is wrong with the individualism of modern sport and who's such a bad bloke that he probably gorges on the blood of teacup pigs while admiring himself in the mirror.

In Madrid, Alfredo Relano of AS labelled the manner of the Portuguese's comments as "cowardly."

In Barcelona, Lluis Mascaro of Sport went with "Dear Cristiano Ronaldo: If everyone was at the level of Lionel Messi..."

In England, BBC Sport placed "Ronaldo's ego" in the humorous weekend roundup.

In France, L'Equipe used a cartoon to depict Ronaldo sitting in a Ferrari, berating his exhausted team-mates pictured behind it pushing it uphill. "Push harder, you good-for-nothings," went the text.

Admittedly, not all of the reactions to Ronaldo's comments were serious, but many were. And as is often the case, there was a rush to condemn the uncomfortably frank words rather than to consider and confront the message they contained.

So what was the message? As explained here at Bleacher Report, something like this:

"

When it comes to drive, conditioning, relentlessness, consistency, an ability to go again and again, Ronaldo is peerless at Madrid. This might not be his best season at the club, but still he has 39 goals in 35 games, and, while others have wilted, tired, he's been ever-present, completing almost every single minute of Madrid's season.

It's this Ronaldo was getting at: preparation, mentality, durability, an ability to recover from setbacks, a capacity to minimise "off" days and a stubborn refusal to yield.

That is his level.

"

He has a point, then. If Ronaldo's team-mates were in the same physical shape as him, possessed the same resistance to fatigue, carried the same insatiable appetite and exhibited the same month-after-month, season-after-season consistency, Real Madrid would be better than what they are. That's undeniable.

This is a team whose stars can't stay fit, that regularly collapses when challenged (in just the last two seasons, think of the clashes with Real Sociedad, Schalke, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla and Barcelona) and too often is surrounded by questions of work rate, intensity, hunger and robustness.

Ronaldo isn't completely innocent here, but he's right to point out that if more were on his level—the level alluded to above, the level not merely about talent but about mindset, competitiveness—Real Madrid would be better.

"When it comes to Real Madrid," wrote renowned La Liga journalist Graham Hunter for ESPN FC while arguing a similar stance to this one, "don't shoot the messenger."

GERARD JULIEN/Getty Images

Sadly, though, this is the reaction that's all too common.

When former Madrid manager Rafa Benitez appeared on BT Sport in February, he reflected on his time in Chamartin. Calm, thoughtful, he spoke of the "permanent presence of the chairman [Florentino Perez]," of "consistency," of Barcelona's "model of football" and Madrid's penchant for "changing managers every year."

Everything he said was spot-on, but he was hammered for daring to say it.

"Benitez is bitter. I'd keep my mouth shut," former Real Madrid player Jose Antonio Camacho told Punto Pelota (h/t Goal).

"If you have something to say, better to say it when you're inside the club, not outside," added Madrid's basketball coach, Pablo Laso.

"And only now does he act the hard man!" said Relano.

Right then, let's mindlessly blast him for saying something rather than listen to what he's saying, shall we?

In this sense, the Ronaldo case is exactly the same, only unlike Benitez, Ronaldo has a chance to back up his words elsewhere. On the pitch. And he has.

On Saturday, the Portuguese's extraordinary second-half assault on Celta Vigo was a timely way to reinforce the height of his level. It should also be acknowledged that Saturday's performance came on the back of rewind-to-2012, peak-Ronaldo moments against Roma, Athletic Bilbao and Espanyol—the sort of monthlong catalogue completely out of reach right now for those around him.

Is he really wrong to challenge others to strive for the same? To demand more from them? To push them? To light something within them?

Of course not.