I like Cristiano Ronaldo, but I keep seeing petty stories like this coming from him and his camp on a consistent basis.
Portugal and Switzerland squared off in their 2022 FIFA World Cup Round of 16 matchup Tuesday to see who was going to punch their tickets to the quarter-finals, with Portugal getting the nod in a 6-1 blowout victory.
The game was clouded with drama for the Portuguese, after manager Fernando Santos made the move to bench Cristiano Ronaldo. However, it worked out great for Portugal, with Ronaldo’s replacement Goncalo Ramos scoring not one, not two, but three goals to achieve the only hat trick of the World Cup so far.
Despite the victory, Ronaldo and his family aren’t taking the benching well at all, with his girlfriend and sister even directly going after Santos.
This was from Ronaldo’s girlfriend, Georgina Rodriguez:
View this post on Instagram
TRANSLATION: “Congratulations Portugal 🇵🇹♥️💚 While the 11 players sang the anthem all goals placed on you. What a shame he didn’t get to enjoy the best player in the world for the 90 minutes. The fans haven’t stopped claiming you and screaming your name. I hope God and your dear friend Fernando hold hands and make us vibrate one more night ⭐️”
Ronaldo’s sister, Katia Aveiro, also got involved in the action:
Ronaldo’s sister has called out Portugal’s manager on Instagram now 😂. This family man. pic.twitter.com/g84iEjuDsq
— Xabhi ✪ (@FCB_Lad_) December 7, 2022
And, of course, Ronaldo himself had something to say:
Um grupo demasiado unido para ser quebrado por forças externas. Uma nação demasiado corajosa para se deixar atemorizar perante qualquer adversário. Uma equipa no verdadeiro sentido da palavra, que vai lutar pelo sonho até ao fim! Acreditem connosco! Força, Portugal!🇵🇹🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/gUeENXSB5F
— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) December 8, 2022
TRANSLATION: “A group too close to be broken by outside forces. A nation too brave to let itself be frightened by any adversary. A team in the truest sense of the word, which will fight for the dream until the end! Believe with us! Strength, Portugal! 🇵🇹🙏🏽 “
Cristiano Ronaldo is easily one of the greatest players of all-time in the history of soccer, and is arguably the greatest of all time, period. But man, he’s got an incredible petty streak, and now his family getting involved and whining about him being benched is not making the situation any better.
For example: Ronado’s girlfriend is incredibly gorgeous, but all I want to do is point and laugh. That shouldn’t be happening. In other words, Ronaldo’s life is full of glamour, swag, more money than most can imagine, pretty girls, a whopping fan base, but for some reason, he can’t help but to be petty. (RELATED: Reporter Goes Absolutely Berserk In The Press Box After Morocco Beats Spain In The World Cup)
It’s like a few years ago when Ronaldo got pissed off because of a not-so-good sculpture of him outside of an international airport in his native Madeira Islands, which is named after him by the way — it’s actually called Cristiano Ronaldo International Airport.
But, like the true narcissist he is — and even though I like him, I admit that Ronaldo is a narcissist — instead of being happy that there’s an entire international airport named after him, he gets pissed off at this beauty:
On this day in 2017, the world laughed at the reveal of a Cristiano Ronaldo sculpture in Madeira.
One year later, we gave the artist his shot at redemption.pic.twitter.com/TLV1iJv1MN
— B/R Football (@brfootball) March 29, 2019
Cristiano Ronaldo is easily one of the greatest soccer players of all-time, and he’s also easily one of the pettiest.
Just stick to the $211 million annual contracts, kingpin.