To many, the tales of Alexander the Great of Macedonia is that which reflects valour, greatness and royalty at its apogee. Coached by the great Aristotle until he reached the age of 16, young Alexander grew to become one of the most powerful figures that ever existed on earth(some say he is the greatest military commander that ever existed). By 20, he had already taken over from his Dad(Philip II) and it was a matter of time before he spread his coverage beyond Greece. Alexander had an unquenchable thirst to conquer whatever was left of the world, and would crush anyone that stood on his path. He sauntered towards Persia and after almost a decade of battle, he toppled the Persian King (King Darius III). In all these, young Alexander didn't notice some sections of his army were becoming weary and injuries were beginning to take a toll on them. He pressed on to conquer more empires, and though he would later turn back his troops, it was already too late for him, as he was unable to survive the degrees of injuries which had been inflicted on him, thus one of his quotes, "I am dying from the treatment of too many physicians." His awesome military career was shortened by his quest to conquer the ends of the earth, thus, by he died at the age of 32/33. Imagine if he was contented with ruling over Macedonia, some conquered parts of Africa and the Persian Empire, he would have lived longer and relished on the spoils of his Valour. However, his inability to apply the break when and where necessary shortened his lifespan. How greater he would have been if he lived longer, what a pity. Enough stories, we're still on a sports blog, LOL.
The recent downturn in Christiano Ronaldo's football career is beginning to send bad signals and as a sports blogger, I'm tempted to think he may end his career faster than most of us predicted. His physique and gusto shows the five time Ballon d'Or award winner can still make an impact in the game even four years from now. To the best of my knowledge, Ronaldo is 34 or thereabout and appears still fired up to break more records or even create more. He still got the speed to beat most top defenders in Europe, his shot power hasn't noticeably gone down. In fact, apart from being a bit unable to make too many dribbles like we used to see him do at Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson, the current Ronaldo in Juventus is on all fours the same we saw at Real Madrid not too long ago. The Portuguese captain no doubt remains one of the best in the history of the game, maybe the greatest if Lionel Messi never existed. But there is more to this prolific football icon, apart from being a go-getter and a determined goal poacher, Ronaldo also has unquenchable thirst to conquer more empires or spread his glory before he calls it a quit from football. Yea, to many of his fans and admirers, this is a commendable feature that makes them prefer him to his presumed rival Lionel Messi. For them, Ronaldo is the real legend. Having conquered England while playing for Manchester United, which saw him win the UEFA Champions league and the Ballon d'Or in 2008, the Portuguese decided to spread his glory and career dominace to other empires in Europe. He moved to Real Madrid for a world record transfer fee and since then, the Portuguese skipper has proved to be a force to reckon with. He grew to become a menace to teams across Spain and led Madrid to various European glories, not to mention his individual accolades and records. At his peak in Madrid, the Los Blancos created a European record of winning the UEFA champions league three times in a row, it has never happened! That glory have seen the Portuguese talisman being branded as a Champions league specialist, one of the factors that kindled Juventus' interest in breaking the bank just to drag him to Turin. At his age, Ronaldo is still a goal dragon and will spit flames at any team that plays down his dreadfulness.
His move to Italy seems to have attracted more encomiums from his well wishers and fans, as they got something more to feed on and perhaps rank him ahead of Messi who wouldn't leave Barcelona to take up new challenges elsewhere and prove he can conquer anywhere in the world. Though he struggled to find his killer instinct at Turin after arriving in his first season, however, he picked up along the line and started doing what he knows how to do best, scoring goals! Despite, winning the award for Seria A best player of the year, Ronaldo missed out on winning the golden boat, a prize meant for the highest goal scorer. His major mission at Juventus or why the Old Ladies Spent so much to bring him to Turin was to help them grab the EUFA champions league trophy. However, Juventus were eliminated by Ajax last season in the Champions league, and Ronaldo's performance wasn't enough to see them through. Well, it was his first season and you can't blame him much for not delivering up to expectations. But then, this season was suppose to be that season when Ronaldo will lead Juventus to perhaps a treble, or even if only the Champions league. He is also expected to lead the goal charts and conquer Seria A by making headlines after each game, but that isn't coming forth and it seems Juventus have gone down a bit more since his arrival. He is also far from his best and Juventus may even end up not winning the league this season. Their recent 3-1 loss to Lazio saw the Italian champions slack to second position(36 points) on the table with Inter Milan climbing into the first spot with 38 points. Ronaldo himself is far from being the goal dragon we used to know and his dream to conquer Italian league seems not feasible. He has only 7 goals so far in the league, and is 10 goals behind Lazio's Immobile who is topping the goal charts with 17 goals. He is also not among the top 65 players in Seria A in terms of assists, as he has only recorded one assist this season at the time of writing this publication. With Lionel Messi his rival already gunning for the next Ballon d'Or award, the possiblility of Ronaldo playing his way to the top appears far from achievable, and it all seems his quest to conquer the whole leagues in Europe will hasten his retirement than we thought. I would love to see him play longer but a man is sooner consumed by his unquenchable thirst for more glory. How legendary he would have been staying at Madrid, and how Longer Alexander the Great would have lived if he knew when to apply his military adventure.
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