Ronaldo, the BEST in the world?

Today's articles are full of praise for Ronaldo and full of comparisons between him and George Best.

Bill Edgar in The Times in a generally good article repeats the popular Ronaldo-isn't-very-good-in-Europe mantra, but at least admits that "this may soon need updating".

Another good article, in the Daily Mail, has Pat Crerand singing Ronaldo's praises,

Alan Smith in The Telegraph mentions something that is generally ignored by the media, namely Ronaldo's great performances in a Portugal shirt:

Unlike the Belfast Boy, though, Ronaldo was born in a country that can make a mark internationally. After a good World Cup in Germany, when he was easily man of the match in Portugal's semi-final defeat to France, a commanding showing in this summer's Euro finals should answer any lingering doubts.

There's also a good article by Tim Rich in The Telegraph on Nani's comments about Ronaldo.

The Sun bucks the general trend, Steven Howard retreading familiar ground with the usual criticisms of Ronaldo but with added ridiculous cliched opening:

IT’S difficult to offer any criticism of the supremely talented Cristiano Ronaldo.

"It's difficult so just think how clever I must be to do it! Gasp in awe as I churlishly copy arguments from every Man Utd hating journalist from the last 3 years, be astonished as I refuse to write about his amazing season but instead criticise him with my rehashed arguments!"
Don't read it.

The other great topic is Rafa Benitez and Sir Alex's mind games. All of these reports have one thing in common - they all agree with Benitez that Sir Alex is playing mind games, this is the implicit underpinning of them all. None of them suggest Rafa is playing mind games (at least one mentions that Benitez is coming out saying this to get his influence in as a reaction, I admit, but the implied criticism is still of Sir Alex)

The Independent is perhaps the worst here, the headline of Ian Herbert's article, "Benitez exposes Ferguson's mind games".

The Guardian at least puts all the emphasis on Benitez, "Liverpool's manager accuses Ferguson of trying to influence referee".

The Times wins best use of ironic quotation marks, "Sir Alex Ferguson using 'clever' remarks to sway referee, argues Rafael Benitez", though now i've written it I'm assuming that the quotation marks are just attributing the comment to Benitez, rather than commenting on the cleverness or otherwise. This article does contain the best description of why Steve Bennet probably shouldn't be refereeing the game:

Ferguson talked yesterday about the need for referees to afford Cristiano Ronaldo more protection, which was no surprise, given that Steve Bennett is scheduled to take charge of a match that could have huge repercussions as far as the title race and fight for fourth place are concerned. Two of the three red cards Ronaldo has received during his five seasons with United have been issued by Bennett, whom Ferguson suggested would have taken “great delight” in sending off the Portugal winger for head-butting Richard Hughes, the Portsmouth midfield player, in the 1-1 draw at Fratton Park in August. Ferguson also accused Bennett of failing to protect Ronaldo after the player was sent off for a reckless lunge during the 3-1 defeat away to Manchester City in January 2006, but BenÍtez has urged the official not to pay attention to his United counterpart’s inferences.

The thing I find interesting is that these comments of Ferguson's which started after the awful display of the referee in the Portsmouth FA cup tie are now somehow being seen as the first shots in the war against Liverpool. Sir Alex therefore threw a (justified) tantrum straight after the Portsmouth game just to get at the referee of this game two weeks later. Now that is clever.

Anyway, tis all ok because The Telegraph tells us that, "Benitez is relaxed about Ferguson mind games". I'm glad that's settled.