Ronaldo a shadow of himself as he makes worst ever start to LaLiga season

Ronaldo a shadow of himself as he makes worst ever start to LaLiga season

Zinedine Zidane argued after the draw at Las Palmas that he’d changed Cristiano Ronaldo to rest him for the Champions League game against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday. It sounds like an excuse, keeping in mind Ronaldo’s current form. He’s a shadow of his former self. Each day that passes sees him less involved in his side’s goals. It seems evident that the best Ronaldo is in the past and his decline has become an unstoppable truth. 

The numbers don’t lie and in Cristiano Ronaldo’s case — who should look up his statistics on the Internet — they do so much less than with other players. The Portuguese forward is who he is because his numbers dictate as much. They’ve been incontestable at times. However, as of today, his numbers are mediocre. He’s starring in his worst start to a league season since he joined Madrid and it’s unlikely Florentino Perez is too relaxed about the situation. 

No-one would have thought when he scored on his league debut this season against Osasuna, after less than 10 minutes, that he was out of form. At least not in goal scoring terms in LaLiga. However, that’s the only goal he has scored until now, with six games gone. The seventh round of fixtures has never arrived with Ronaldo so low in the Pichichi classification. In fact, Pedro Leon has more goals than him and with his goal on Saturday, so too does Sergio Araujo. 

Ronaldo is in his eighth season at Madrid and we have to return to Manchester United to see numbers similar to his current ones. In 2008-09, after six Premier League matches, he’d scored just once. His worst start to a LaLiga season came in 2010-11, with three goals in six matches. Since then, he’s never dropped below five, as was the case last season. In 2014-15, he set his record, scoring 10 goals in six outings. The term ‘slow decline’ may not be applicable if he doesn’t pull himself together, instead we may be talking about a quick and painful decline.