Debate: Was Cristiano Ronaldo wrong to leave Manchester United?
Thursday, March 11, 2010 @ 2:34 PM
While Cristiano Ronaldo crashed out of the Champions League with Real Madrid, his former club Manchester United sailed into the last eight with a 4-0 win over AC Milan. So did the Portuguese make a mistake in swapping Old Trafford for the Bernabeu? Join the debate below...
Ronaldo left Manchester United for Real Madrid last summer to win the biggest prizes. The Champions League trophy will indeed be making its way to the Bernabeu in May, but another team will be taking it home with them.
Ronaldo will be merely a spectator at this year's final after his Real side crashed out of the competition at the last 16 stage following a 2-1 aggregate defeat to Lyon. Incredibly, it is the sixth consecutive season that Real Madrid have been knocked out in this round. For a player of the ultimate ambition, seeing two other teams play for the trophy at his own ground will rankle.
Especially if his former club is one of them. Manchester United may have been favourites to beat AC Milan, but to put seven goals past them exceeded even the most fanciful of expectations. After an uncertain start to the season, the goals of Wayne Rooney have put Manchester United in the running for three trophies.
Which brings us to the main question. Has Ronaldo made one of the biggest mistakes of his life in moving to Real? Florentino Perez may have assembled the most expensive and star-studded team in the world, but only the most blinkered could argue that it was the best.
Should he have stayed at United? Or do you think his best chance of winning trophies in the long-term still lie at Madrid? Should Ronaldo's success at Madrid be judged on trophies alone? Is it even conceivable that Ronaldo could return to United one day?
Source: The Telegraph