Manchester United 2-0 Tottenham: In defence of Cristiano Ronaldo storming down the tunnel – The Warm-Up

THURSDAY’S BIG STORIES

All the greats are deluded, Ronaldo is no different

Great athletes are deluded. That is no criticism. It is, in many ways, what separates the true greats from the mortals of sporting endeavour.

As such, The Warm-Up would like to posit its theory: however highly fans or rivals regard athletes of the calibre of Michael Jordan, Michael Phelps, Cristiano Ronaldo, Tiger Woods, Roger Federer or Lionel Messi, rest assured, those athletes hold themselves in a higher regard. Much higher.

Ability differences at elite level sport are relatively miniscule. In fact, there are three elements crucial to sporting success: talent, luck and belief. Thus, the difference in pure technical ability between a bog-standard Premier League player and a league-leading one is a lot smaller than many think. It is the varying levels of luck and belief that often separate the bog-standard from the not-so bog-standard.

It is, though, the meeting of talent, luck and impenetrable confidence – or delusion – that elevates the greats. It is often what allows them to achieve feats previously deemed unachievable. However it is why they sometimes compete well beyond their peak. And as the gap between their perceived ability and actual ability gets ever wider, that delusion – once a potent weapon – becomes a legacy-tarnisher.

And this is the situation Cristiano Ronaldo now finds himself in. Ronaldo is no longer an elite-level player. For proof of that, he must just refer to a summer of being hawked across Europe to elite-level and sub-elite-level clubs. Not one serious club (sorry Al Hilal, you don’t count) took the bait.

He was forced to stay at Manchester United to face the ignominy of Europa League football; worse still, he is no longer deemed good enough to command a regular starting spot at his Europa League-level club, Manchester United; worse still again, Manchester United are a better outfit when he is on the bench.

Ronaldo is incapable of processing or understanding the last part of the above statement.

For his part, Ten Hag told Amazon Prime Video Sport: “I will deal with that tomorrow. Not today. We are celebrating this victory.”

It is sad to see but it is who he is. And it is what made him a great athlete – one of the greatest. At some point he will need to accept what he is now: a bog-standard Premier League player.

Arsenal lay down a marker and some

“I just think the team has developed from last season,” said Ballon d’Or runner-up Mead.

“We’ve learnt from a lot, and I think the character you can see is a lot different in the way we play, how brave we are on the ball, we believe in the system, we believe in the process that we’re doing and there’s a good understanding. We haven’t changed much from last season but the on-pitch understanding now is a lot better than it was.”

It was quite the statement and achieved without Vivianne Miedema, who was on the bench.

To put the result in context, it was Lyon’s first loss in 15 matches in all competitions, their first at home since April 2021 and their heaviest defeat in the Champions League.

Arsenal have laid down the gauntlet.

Messi names Brazil and France as World Cup favourites

Lionel Messi’s Argentina team are on a 31-game unbeaten streak; they last lost in July 2019.

And yet, he has plumped for Brazil and France as favourites for the World Cup. The Warm-Up is calling this early doors mind games, as France are a hot mess.

“We always say the same great teams… but, if I have to choose, Brazil and France are the two great candidates to win the World Cup,” Messi told DIRECTV Sports.

“They’ve had the same group [of players] for a long time, working well. France, aside from the last Euros when they were eliminated [in the last 16] and did badly, they have some impressive players.

“They have a clear idea and the same coach [Didier Deschamps]. Brazil is a bit the same [under Tite].”

IN OTHER NEWS

Here we go again

The European Super League is rearing its head again.

“The system has become quite unstable, it isn’t self-sustainable anymore. I think the clubs should be able to decide their fate, as they also bear all the (financial) risk. Most clubs agree that it can’t go on like that.”

Now, the Warm-Up will offer zero opinion here, but a mere observation of fact: there is not one fact in the above statement, just a collection of opinions that are not backed by facts.

However, it seems the ESL may have learned their lesson from the last debacle, and have scrapped the idea of the venture being closed off.

“We don’t want to leave anyone behind. In our new approach there will also be promotion and relegation,” Reichart said.

IN THE CHANNELS

Iváncsa Községi Sportegyesület play in Nemzeti Bajnokság III – or to me and you, the third tier of Hungarian football. On Wednesday night, they beat Ferencvárosi TC in the Hungarian Cup.

That is a third-tier team beating the cup holders, current league leaders and also Europa League group leaders in the cup. The magic of the cup.

COMING UP

An absolute wealth of football going on. Games galore. Arsenal v PSV, Fulham v Aston Villa, Leicester v Leeds, Barcelona v Villarreal and Paris Saint-Germain Feminine v Chelsea.