Viva Ronaldo - Again!
There are times when supporting United is to be mired in all that is soul-destroying about the modern game – the Game 39 nonsense, the unwanted (but not that unwanted) Wembley semi-finals, the debt-servicing (and is it me, or does this feel like a particularly bad moment to be saddled with astronomical levels of debt?). And then you see a ball being zipped about the pitch with such panache and aplomb, that everything ugly and disfiguring melts away and the true beauty of this game we all love shows its true face.
Such is it to be a United fan at the present moment. I scribbled down some thoughts after that sumptuous, rain lashed victory over Villa. Film makers of limited imagination are fond of turning on the rain machine when they want to evoke turbulent emotions. Rain-soaked kisses are one of the enduring clichés of the screen. Well, the rain did a similar job on Saturday evening – it was like one long, epic kiss.
Hollow hyperbole? Not even close. Ronaldo’s slick-flick, Rooney’s indomitable spirit finally getting its reward with a brace, and of course that header from Tevez, the sublime culmination of a move of magisterial artistry. How could they possibly follow that?
The answer of course was with the win against Roma, our finest performance on foreign soil since that Keano inspired victory in Turin. On Tuesday Ronaldo obliterated for good the lingering doubt about his ability to turn it on for the big occasions and assured himself of the European Player of the Year trophy regardless of whether we make it to Moscow. Rooney’s shimmy in the build-up to the goal was a thing of beauty, and all in all it was an object lesson in how football should be played.
Worries of all kinds (visa and tickets for Moscow, Vidic’s knee, the debt) can take a back seat as we just bathe in the glow of the knowledge that for now we are without doubt seeing the finest player in world football in his absolute pomp. What else can you say but Viva Ronaldo?
Such is it to be a United fan at the present moment. I scribbled down some thoughts after that sumptuous, rain lashed victory over Villa. Film makers of limited imagination are fond of turning on the rain machine when they want to evoke turbulent emotions. Rain-soaked kisses are one of the enduring clichés of the screen. Well, the rain did a similar job on Saturday evening – it was like one long, epic kiss.
Hollow hyperbole? Not even close. Ronaldo’s slick-flick, Rooney’s indomitable spirit finally getting its reward with a brace, and of course that header from Tevez, the sublime culmination of a move of magisterial artistry. How could they possibly follow that?
The answer of course was with the win against Roma, our finest performance on foreign soil since that Keano inspired victory in Turin. On Tuesday Ronaldo obliterated for good the lingering doubt about his ability to turn it on for the big occasions and assured himself of the European Player of the Year trophy regardless of whether we make it to Moscow. Rooney’s shimmy in the build-up to the goal was a thing of beauty, and all in all it was an object lesson in how football should be played.
Worries of all kinds (visa and tickets for Moscow, Vidic’s knee, the debt) can take a back seat as we just bathe in the glow of the knowledge that for now we are without doubt seeing the finest player in world football in his absolute pomp. What else can you say but Viva Ronaldo?
posted by Royton Red @ 2:32 PM
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