Ronaldo the great

Ronaldo: From villain to hero

By MegaStar's Hesus De Santiago at Old Trafford.

There are occasional perks to being MegaStar’s house sport scribe, like a last minute invitation from the Hatfield society of Portuguese Restaurateurs to be guest of honour for their annual pilgrimage to Old Trafford to salute their favourite son – Cristiano Ronaldo.

After battling against a chocca M6 we took our prime seats in the South Stand next to the boisterous Bolton support with only minutes to spare, sweating profusely after the light jog and chilli quesadillas wolfed down somewhere near junction 17 in Staffordshire.

Talk in the Ford Focus was of how the perception of our countryman had changed from vilified winking disco boy to the most feared and respected striker in Europe.

It swelled our Iberian hearts with pride to see him again in the flesh, taking to the pitch in a packed Old Trafford sporting the captain’s armband for the first time, poised like a matador ready to toy with the bullish Bolton defenders before striking them through the heart.

Whatever the talk about step-overs, showboating and play acting, it’s the ability to put the ball in the back of the net which has transformed him into the complete player.

Before long Ronaldo had bagged his 22nd Premier League goal of the season. Bolton failed to clear a corner and the ball fell awkwardly in the box. Immediately the Old Trafford faithful rose from their seats, somewhat unfairly for the small lad sitting in the row in front of us – there was only one outcome – 1-0.

But the best was yet to come, hacked down 25 yards out by the tormented Bolton defender Abdoulaye Meite, Ronaldo dusted himself off and placed the ball preparing for another free-kick special.

From our seats it looked as if the ball had taken a wicked deflection as it flew into the net leaving Al Habsi flapping.

After watching the replay on the TV screens in the queue for a beverage (overpriced), we witnessed again the majesty; who else in the world can strike a ball so ferociously and make it dip and swerve in a manner? Such technique is alien to even the most talented of footballers.

United were 2-0 up and our hero had not let us down, the Bolton fans chanted ironically ‘Sh*t Ronaldo,’ no matter how fervent the hatred for Manchester United from opposition fans, they will always bow down and respect the genius of Ronaldo – unthinkable after he dumped Wayne Rooney and England out of the World Cup.

Bolton put up a good fight and Cristiano was coasting, but his work was done and with one eye on Liverpool – goading Bolton defenders was not on his agenda.

United looked lacklustre for the next 40 minutes or so – Bolton were genuinely unlucky, El Hadj Diouf struck a sublime free-kick but the referee wasn’t ready and Tomasz Kuszczak made a couple of fine saves. Things would have been very different if he hadn’t stopped Kevin Davies’ strike at point blank range at 1-0.

The fans got an extra lift with the introduction of Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney and fellow Portuguese Nani was castigated by a livid Rooney after the England striker had made a sensational run only for the winger to shoot high and wide.

It was a job well done in the end, with no apparent injuries ahead of Sunday’s crunch with Liverpool – We’re already planning next year’s pilgrimage, perhaps we’ll have to go twice – tickets to Madrid are pricey these days.

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