Euro 2012: Welcome To The Party Cristiano Ronaldo

In true Cristiano Ronaldo fashion he arrived at the party late with a double against the Dutch. He showed off his fancy footwoork by cutting some mad shapes against the Czechs. Next he will probably make out with your beautifully efficient sister before leaving with the prize that everyone at the party coveted. The perfectly preened, permanently tanned and supremely talented CR7 is now joint top scorer at the Euro's and few would bet against him finishing top of that list come July 1st. The way he strutted around the pitch against the Czechs showed a man who has only one thing on his mind. Glory. He sprinted after every loose ball. Every shot was struck with extra venom. He never stopped working the defenders running into space demanding his compatriots find him with every pass. His goal was celebrated with such joy it seems that the pressure of an entire nation is no longer holding him back but instead spurring him on to greater heights. His idols Eusebio and Luis Figo watched on and marvelled as he aims to do something they never could. Win a trophy for Portugal. He has played like a man possessed in his last two games scoring 3 goals and hitting the woodwork 4 times. He has had 29 shots over the four games so far troubling the goalkeeper 14 times. Both stats are more than any other player at the tournament. It's not that he had played poorly in his first two games either it's just that it wasn't up to his incredibly lofty standards. In three years at Real Madrid he has scored 146 goals in 144 games. If you post those numbers for your club then the same is expected of you when playing for your country. So what changed between Ronaldo's first two games and his last two. The easy answer is nothing. You can't keep that talented a player down so it was inevitable he was going to make an impact at the tournament. However there is another answer. During the match against Denmark he missed a couple of really good chances. Chances you would expect him to take with eyes closed and because Ronaldo is the polarizing figure he is the Danish fans took great delight in his misfortune. "Messi! Messi! Messi!" rang around the ground as they goaded the Portugese wonder. For Ronaldo there could have been no bigger insult. The rivalry between the two greatest players on the planet is no secret. While Messi brings grace and elegance to the game Ronaldo brings pace and power. Every time Messi ghosts past two defenders and curls the ball beautifully around the goalkeeper Ronaldo speeds past his marker and thunders the ball into the top corner. When Ronaldo scores 46 goals in a single La Liga season Messi scores 50. When Ronaldo breaks his personal best by scoring 60 goals in a season Messi breaks his own record by scoring 73 times. While Messi is almost universally loved Ronaldo continues to split opinion. Don't get me wrong he has his legions of adoring fans who think he can do no wrong but for every one of them there is somebody who thinks he is a whining prima donna. Normally that wouldn't bother a man like Cristiano. Criticism has always just rolled off his back but now it's starting to affect his career. Almost every individual accolade the two have been nominated for has gone the way of the Argentine genius and that does not sit well with Ronaldo. They are streets ahead of every other player in the world but come award season Messi seems to be that little bit ahead of him. His ego demands that he get the best of his rival before their days are up and while they are both at the peak of their powers. It is a fire that burns inside him and drives him to consistently play at his incredible level. What better time than now? Up till now neither one of them has achieved major success representing their country. Last summer Messi had another below par outing at the Copa America. A fact that Ronaldo was quick to point out to anybody that would listen after the Denmark game. So with Lionel enjoying a rare summer off this is now Ronaldo's chance to grab all the headlines, grab all the goals, grab an International trophy and come December perhaps grab all the votes.