Is Ronaldo destined for greatness?

Is Ronaldo destined for greatness?

Premier League Manchester United

To borrow a phrase from one of my colleagues, Cristiano Ronaldo is touched by the hand of genius.

As I sat high in the stands at Old Trafford on Saturday, it was impossible not to think you were in the presence of a man with an extraordinary gift.

If I was told there is a finer footballer in the world right at this moment, I would not believe it.

But just how good can Manchester United electric Portuguese winger be? Is he simply enjoying a hot streak, or is he destined to go down as one of the greats of the game?

On Saturday, Ronaldo ?who is not a striker, lest we forget ?struck the first hat-trick of his Old Trafford career with a display of football as beautiful as it was brutal in a 6-0 destruction of Newcastle.

He tormented his opponents from first whistle to last and the biggest cheer of the day from most of the 75,965 lucky enough to be present was reserved for the completion of his treble with two minutes to go.

"That boy Ronaldo, he might just go on to be the best player we've ever had," mused one seasoned United follower in the row behind me.

He copped a fair bit of stick for his comment, a remarkable one from the supporter of a club that has seen the likes of Duncan Edwards, George Best, Bobby Charlton, Denis Law, Bryan Robson and Eric Cantona pass through its doors.

But Ronaldo is pure box office. His every touch is greeted with a buzz of expectation - you genuinely start to believe he can score or create a goal whenever he picks the ball up.

The bare facts are stunning - he has three more goals than the Premier League's next best marksman, Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor and he has bagged a phenomenal 20 goals in his last 16 games.

He runs with the ball at such frightening pace defenders do not know how to stop him. As the song goes, he comes from the left, he comes from the right ?and he has learned with devastating simplicity that it means little without an end product.



2008 could well be the year that the irresistible Ronaldo stamps his greatness on the sport

Throw in a furious, fist-thumped-on-turf response to a failed penalty appeal, 10 minutes of Ronaldo hobbling around injured looking like he was about to cry and a further two minutes off the pitch to change his illuminous orange boots (complete with speed plate technology) and you have a performance of pure theatre.

I know Cesc Fabregas has been in magical form for Arsenal, but forget anyone else for 2007/08 PFA Player of the Year. Ronaldo deservedly won it last year and he should deservedly win it this year too. He is head and shoulders above everyone else.

Indeed, 2008 could well be the year that the irresistible Ronaldo stamps his greatness on the sport.

With United still in the hunt for the treble and Portugal primed for another crack at winning a major tournament at Euro 2008, he will not be short of occasions on which to leave his mark.

His only two real competitors for the best player in the world title ?Brazil's Kaka (the holder), who has not been at his best so far this season, and Argentina's Lionel Messi, who is currently injured ?will obviously not be in Austria and Switzerland, so the stage is all set for Ronaldo.

One note of caution ?if the Madeira-born forward really has designs on greatness, he must ensure a display like the one in last season's Champions League semi-final second leg away at AC Milan is a one-off.

Ronaldo may have been tired at the end of a long season following on from a heavy World Cup campaign, but his disappearing act in the San Siro cast an unfortunate shadow over the previous eight months of brilliance.

Having starred in the World Cup in Germany and shone at Euro 2004 at the tender age of 19, the pressure of the big occasion clearly does not faze this ultra-confident young man.

But he must make sure that, in the manner of Zinedine Zidane, he fulfils his enormous potential on the very biggest stages.

If he continues in the same rich vein of form he showed at Old Trafford on Saturday, prepare to make space in the history books for Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro.

Download Ronaldo's Firts Hattrick Video