Patrick Barclay: Salute supreme commander Ronaldo - and hand him the Ballon d’Or

 
20 November 2013

There are plenty of times when life defies satire but only very rarely does football exceed its hype.

So salute Cristiano Ronaldo — and show due respect to Zlatan Ibrahimovic — for last night’s drama in Stockholm. And polish the Ballon d’Or. Prepare a glittering prize for Portugal’s hat-trick hero.

When the pick of the play-offs was billed as Cristiano v Zlatan, a bit of me rebelled, but how can you argue when even the loser averaged a goal a game? Ronaldo got four in winning both legs. No one other than the jousting giants scored (though let’s not overlook the quality of assists to Ronaldo). And the World Cup will be the poorer without Ibrahimovic.

Ronaldo, meanwhile, makes Portugal one to avoid in the draw. Sepp Blatter, on his appearance before the Oxford Union, described the Real Madrid phenomenon as “a commander on the field”. Make that supreme commander. With Lionel Messi injured, the Ballon argument is over.

What a momentous night it proved. We expected Greece and Croatia to qualify but France, instead of submitting to the tumbrils after a 2-0 loss in Ukraine, got through, leaving manager Didier Deschamps to claim he’d never doubted it and the French were now “capable of great things”.

It emphasised how narrow the margin between zero and hero can be. Even England, as they contemplate a sobering double, can reflect that vaunted Belgium also lost two home friendlies (against Colombia and Japan) in the international break and Spain were beaten in South Africa.

England played some decent attacking football last night, with Adam Lallana showing that he, like Andros Townsend, is here to stay. The worries remain in defence. Can Roy Hodgson form a competitive unit in a few early-summer weeks? Because England have no giants — no Ballon candidates — it will all come down to that.

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