Haters think Cristiano Ronaldo is just lucky.
You might not, but plenty of people do. So many, in fact, that it's fair to say that the collective "you" of the Internet hates on Ronaldo almost constantly because he is lucky, a poacher, and many other things that don't have much to do with skill. Apparently, like so many super models, Ronaldo has bedded Lady Luck and now she plays exclusively in his favor.
Ronaldo was just lucky in this game #RealMadrid #PSG pic.twitter.com/PpEFkBmMiz
— Josh (@JosiahCE) February 18, 2018
If Ronaldo is just lucky, we sure wish we could get ahold of some of that mojo, because he's lucky a lot. So much so that one might think his greatest skill is being lucky. And maybe it is.
The truth is, Ronaldo probably feels about luck what Thomas Jefferson said of it, "I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it."
While we can't help you be as lucky as Ronaldo in life, we can shed some light on how it is that he is so "lucky" so often on the pitch. It's not voodoo or a magic trick passed down from Ronaldo to Ronaldo since Greek times. It's simply that Cristiano Ronaldo, like so many other greats, is not just amazing with the ball. He's equally amazing without it.
Here's a great video that breaks it down, with all kinds of highlights that show Ronaldo off the ball:
Watching this, it's pretty clear Ronaldo doesn't just happen to be in the right place at the right time. He uses a combination of speed, on-field vision and intuition to make sure he's in the right place at the right time. For sure, his game has changed since his early days of stepovers and box-to-box sprints. But that doesn't make his skill here less impressive.
For any young player, Ronaldo fan or not, it's a lesson worth learning.
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