Old friend Chris Wittyngham has got the fans of Cristiano Ronaldo up in a tizzy after criticizing his play in the Euros.
The way Cristiano Ronaldo made this Euros about himself, at 39 years old without scoring a single goal, is a stunning failure of the Portugal national setup. How they let him control his playing time at this level of productivity to cater to his massive ego is why they’re out.
— Chris Wittyngham (@ChrisWittyngham) July 5, 2024
Witty joined Pablo Torre, Domonique Foxworth and David Samson on Tuesday’s edition of The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz to explain why he thinks Ronaldo is COOKED.
Witty says he was really frustrated watching Portugal in the Euros because they’re an amazing team, right up there with the very best teams in the tournament. But they just didn’t look like it at all and instead, it just looked like they were in service of Ronaldo and Witty thinks it should be the other way around. Witty says while he understands everything Ronaldo has done for Portugal, it’s time for him to go. It was really time for him to go two years ago, in fact!
“After watching his performance in the Euros, he scored zero goals… it’s time for him [Cristiano Ronaldo] to go. It was time for him to go two years ago.”@ChrisWittyngham on Cristiano Ronaldo after his disappointing performance in the EURO’s.
— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) July 9, 2024
: https://t.co/7vXdvShIPV pic.twitter.com/xvTPZyY6SM
David has a number to share: 633. What is that number you ask? No, it’s not the number of career goals for Ronaldo. It is the number, in millions, of followers Ronaldo has on Instagram as the No. 1 person on the service IN THE WORLD. Therefore, David says he’s earned the right to say when he’s going to hang up his boots. Popularity wins the day, according to David. He believes that in that Portugal uni, everyone will ALWAYS service Ronaldo until he steps away.
Witty says, however, that Ronaldo isn’t good anymore and that he’s demonstrated that over and over again and at a certain point this is a sporting competition not an Instagram competition. Witty thinks it looks like Ronaldo is dead set to keep going all the way to the 2026 World Cup when he’s going to be 41 years old. He’s trying to be Tom Brady without winning anything! It’s over for him at this level, Witty says.
As is his wont, and his podcast, Pablo Torre wants to find out what the Cristiano Ronaldo fanboy is like. How would Witty characterize Ronaldo’s army of fans? What distinguishes them? Witty says the soccer internet has divided itself among Messi people and Ronaldo people and everything is viewed through the prism of that one singular sports debate. Witty says the Ronaldo fans are armed with a full amount of talking points as if this were politics. Of course, then the Messi fans will point out that Messi has actually scored a goal in the World Cup knockout round, which Ronaldo has not done in his illustrious career. Everything is viewed through the prism of: How does this suit my argument in the debate and my worldview?
Witty says the two players also represent two different things. Ronaldo has more Instagram followers, despite Messi being arguably the better player, because Ronaldo represents something about aura and individual things, while Messi is more demure, team-first and creating for others. They are polar opposites in so many ways.
Yup, Witty is a Messi guy, for sure!
Check out the full Best Of video above, and tune into The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz Monday-Friday at 11 a.m. ET on DraftKings Network!
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