Introduction: Confronting the sky, the earth, and even the air, yet missing the key target.
As the year-end approaches, it's once again the time for various year-end award selections. Cristiano Ronaldo has been very active, with his social media activity akin to a god descending from heaven.
Winning the relatively low-influence Globe Soccer Award for Best Middle Eastern Player, but missing out on the prestigious Ballon d'Or, Ronaldo is understandably unhappy. He has been lashing out at the Ballon d'Or and even the French football magazine that organizes it, which is based in the Ligue 1.
The difficulty of playing in the 38-degree heat of the Saudi league has become a source of confidence for Ronaldo. In response, Ligue 1 retorted that Messi won the World Cup in 38-degree weather, leading to media questioning whether Messi really won in winter without the 38-degree heat.
In summary, despite scoring over 40 goals in the year, Ronaldo missed out on the Ballon d'Or. It's understandable that he's upset, but actually, Ronaldo has targeted the wrong person; he should be focusing his criticism on Chinese Super League player Wu Lei.
For Ronaldo, an opportunistic striker, the main threat comes from the number of goals scored by opponents. There are top European leagues like the Bundesliga's Kane with 46 goals, the Premier League's Haaland with 48 goals, and Ronaldo's mother club's Liga Portugal's Zhekaerai with 62 goals, but they no longer compete with Ronaldo.
Beyond the focus of European leagues, Ronaldo's most important opponent turned out to be Wu Lei of the Chinese Super League with 42 goals. After all, they are both in non-mainstream events where the competitive level is not as high as Europe's top five leagues.
Wu Lei's performance has severely embarrassed Ronaldo. Wu Lei's success shows that even though Ronaldo still has over 40 goals, in non-mainstream leagues, even the main forward of the Chinese national team can score over 40 goals, which indirectly reflects the low value of Ronaldo's over 40 goals in the Saudi league.
The sense of superiority from 38 degrees isn't hard to refute. High temperatures do make one more tired, but aren't all 22 players on the field playing in the same 38-degree heat? Moreover, while high temperatures do make one more tired, doesn't that fatigue make it easier for attacking players? After all, when the defense gets tired, their defensive strength will decrease!
Even more convincing is that Wu Lei, with over 40 goals, at least won the Chinese Super League championship and the FA Cup. Looking at Ronaldo, since coming to the desert league, his personal statistics have been impressive, but where are the championships? Isn't this another example of a player bringing down the team with his own strength?
(Tang Jia Qigongzi)