Cristiano Ronaldo is undoubtedly one of the best players in the world and also one of the greatest ever club-players. However, if the Portuguese international wants to be bracketed along with the Pele's, Maradona's and Cruyff's, the Real Madrid hitman will have to prove it on the international stage.
There is no better platform than Euro 2012 for Ronaldo to make himself one of the greatest ever to play the game of soccer. Constantly compared to Lionel Messi, who himself has to prove it on the international stage, Ronaldo has thrived on the competition given by the Argentine maestro at club level.
However, while a lot of people bracket Messi with the greatest ever, Ronaldo seems to miss out in that particular category despite having a ridiculously successful club career. Ronaldo is coming off a memorable campaign with Real Madrid, having led them to the Spanish League title for the first time in four years and also helping Real relinquish the stranglehold Barcelona had on the Spanish game.
Ronaldo scored a mind-boggling amount of goals this past season and also became the first player in La Liga history to net 40 goals in a single campaign. He also became the fastest to score 100 goals in the Spanish League.
Ronaldo, at 27, is in his prime. Every time he touches the ball, he is expected to create that moment of magic, be it either scoring a goal or setting up a teammate to find the back of the net.
Ever since moving to Manchester United, Ronaldo has been the best club player in the world along with Messi without a shadow of a doubt.
Unfortunately for Ronaldo, he has never been able to transform that club form to his country, chronically underperforming on the international stage. The forward has scored a respectable 32 goals in 90 games for Portugal, but compared to his club record, it is mediocre at best.
Ronaldo, does not believe in mediocrity. He thrives on competition and there can be no better competition, other than the FIFA World Cup, to prove himself to be the best.
The difference for the Ream Madrid man is, in his club wherever he has played, be it Manchester United or Real Madrid, Ronaldo has had a great supporting cast. Soccer is the ultimate team game. You cannot win anything single-handedly. You are only as good as the people around you.
In Portugal, Ronaldo has never had the kind of support required to perform at the highest level. It is easy for teams to play Portugal as they only have to mark Ronaldo and the rest will take care of itself.
Ronaldo does not have a plethora of world-class players to feed the ball to and then get into a better position at Portugal. He has to do it on his own, or at least for most of the time, he feels the need to do it all on his own.
Maybe there can be a change, if Ronaldo starts to trust his teammates more, even if they are not up to the quality he is accustomed to at club level. Trusting his teammates to pick up the slack and to offer quality support might just free up Ronaldo to dazzle the soccer world finally at the international stage.
Portugal are in the group of death along with Germany, Netherlands and Denmark. Pitting himself against the big teams, might just bring out the best in one of the greatest players of his generation.
Everyone watching the drama unfold in Poland and Ukraine will certainly be hoping so.