30 is a scary age for most people. Aside from the fact that you now begin your age with a different number for the first time in 10 years, it’s a sign of your inevitable passage into middle age. This is often equated with the end of your life as you know it; no more fun, no more friends, the shackles of marriage and parenthood itch at your feet, and definitely, definitely no more partying. Now imagine on top of all of that, you recently broke up with your long-time girlfriend, and you happen to suffer your worst professional failure of the year the day of your 30th birthday party.
That is what happened to Cristiano Ronaldo over the weekend. It’s enough to make anyone want to sing their heart out, sing away all their pain and frustrations, which coincidentally is exactly what he did:
Forgetting for a moment the missed opportunity for poetic brilliance that would have been Ronaldo singing “I Will Survive” instead of Kevin Roldan’s “Si No Te Enamoras” ("If You Don't Fall In Love") with Roldan himself, this video is still a beautiful reality check. Ronaldo’s blowing off some steam, he just happens to be doing it next to a Spanish pop star.
But, of course, because Cristiano Ronaldo is Cristiano Ronaldo, the world saw that video and thought not, “Oh, that’s just a normal guy celebrating his 30th birthday,” but “I can’t believe this guy thinks he deserves to have a good time after we voted him the worst player of Real Madrid’s worst defeat of the year. What an a**hole. He obviously doesn’t care about Madrid.”
Such thinking is, obviously, unfair, but also expected in the world of sport fandom. Fans overreact moment-to-moment like it’s their job (which in some ways one could argue it is), and that’s why we all need to take a collective deep breath and listen to the wise words of Ronaldo’s agent, Jorge Mendes:
"He was very angry [after the loss],” Mendes said. "Any player that loses a game…would be angry…Ronaldo was devastated after the defeat and people spent two hours trying to cheer him up."
He was in no mood to celebrate his own birthday, but, as Mendes explains, “The fact is that his birthday party had been organized more than a month ago and he had family coming from abroad. He didn't want to cancel out of respect for the people that came.”
So, no, Ronaldo did not leave the pitch following Madrid’s drubbing with a pep in his step, sing “Mr. Blue Sky” as he showered, and exit the locker room throwing up a peace sign and yelling “Peace B*tches! See ya’ll at the spot tonight!” over his shoulder just because he was throwing a party that night.
As shocking as it may be, he actually cared that his team lost. People think that he didn’t because they needed someone to blame, and Ronaldo was the low hanging fruit. As Mendes points out, “Cristiano has accustomed people badly because 99 percent of the time he does extremely well.” Greatness makes failure stick out all the more blatantly. So, when Ronaldo has a bad game, and Real Madrid loses, he becomes the most visible target. All of the sudden a very normal birthday party turns into an affront to every Madridista on the planet.
Ronaldo just turned 30 years old. He deserves to party, to laugh, and sing, and yell at the top of his lungs “IT’S MY PARTY, I’LL CRY IF I WANT TO!” as Icona Pop blasts in the background. We all need to be understanding, because there’s no telling when our next birthday will be the one we hoped would never come.
