June 20, 2008 No comments

Cristian Ronaldo - is Ferguson the only manager able to handle him?

The big question after Cristian Ronaldo went missing in the second half of Portugal’s defining Euro 2008 game against Germany is can anyone manage him except Alex Ferguson. Big Felipe Scolari has only seen the brilliance that the rest of us know so well week in and week out as he notched those astonishing 42 goals last season, in fleeting patches. He has played like an over-excited schoolboy. But if he moves to Real Madrid as the agitators suggest he will for a world record breaking fee - more than Real paid for Zinedine Zidane, can Bernd Schuster get the best out of him or could he be like Michael Owen and countless other Premiership players who have moved abroad and not lived up to their home billing. As United’s assitant manager and potential replacement for Scolari at Portugal Carlos Queiros has also pointed out both he and Ronaldo are Portugese, not Spanish. Maybe the rumours have just gone to his head, maybe too the Madridistas noticed that he went missing in action in Basel, bad foot or no bad foot. And that he sulked on the Portugese fans after the game. One thing he does not seem to have is the media savvy or poltical instincts of David Beckham. Or maybe he is thinking that if Scolari can take the money, maybe he should. United are 6/5 to retain the Premiership title but those would look like pretty crap odds without Ronaldo’s firepower. In fact that would have given them a goal difference worse than Aston Villa last season.