To begin, a couple of small trigger warnings. First off, this article will be polluted with the greatness of Cristiano Ronaldo. To read it will be to spend some time mired in his excellence, like wading through a particularly squelchy bog of pure, uncut CR7ness. This might not seem like your idea of fun at the best of times, never mind on a weekend when his guns are trained on the Ireland soccer team.
Across his career, we have tended to be a flat track for him to bully. It’s 20 years since his first game against Ireland and though it ended with a 1-0 win for Brian Kerr’s side at Lansdowne Road – a shiny penny if you were able to conjure up dear old Andy O’Brien as the goalscorer on the night – Ronaldo has taken plenty of revenge in the two decades since.
It presumably won’t mean much to him but his record against Ireland is much better than his peers. Over the years, our history against what might be termed the global icons of the game hasn’t been too bad, all told. Messi, Ronaldinho, the original Ronaldo, Zidane, Baggio – they’ve all come and gone in games against Ireland without scoring a goal.
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