Real Madrid’s president, Florentino Pérez, said we had heard it all before but we had not, not quite like this. Sergio Ramos had not even collected the European Cup, their third in a row, when Cristiano Ronaldo referred to it in the past – to all of it. “It was nice to be at Madrid,” he said, standing pitchside at the Olympic Stadium, Kiev. Was? “In a few days I will give a response to the fans, because they have always been at my side.” And so a historic moment shifted. The night had yet another narrative.
A few minutes earlier a pitch invader had stood between Ronaldo and a goal in the final, which might have helped to bring some of the sentiment to the surface but this, he later admitted, had been brewing for much longer: “When you hold on and hold on, when you have a heart and you’re honest, sometimes you lose control.” The stress on “have” as he stood by the pitch revealed that, while fans have supported him, others have not. There was a reflection of that desire for affection in the remark made by Sergio Ramos shortly after. Literally, it translates as: “Cris likes to let him himself be loved,” and it implies a want, a need, a call for attention, for appreciation.
Back in Madrid, at the statue of Cibeles where they celebrate titles, he got that. There were chants of “Ronaldo, stay!” But while the fans’ relationship with him has not always been perfect, when it comes to those whose support he has missed, Ronaldo was thinking principally of Pérez, and it was Pérez who responded. “Now is not the time for individual issues; the club is more important than anyone,” he said.