Manchester United officially announced that Cristiano Ronaldo returned to the team after 12 years, a news that caused a sensation in world football. From 2009 to 2021, it is like a reincarnation, returning to the Premier League, returning to Manchester, returning to Old Trafford Stadium, "Little Luo" finally came home.
[In 2009, Manchester United and Ronaldo dominated the Premier League]
In the summer of 2003, at the age of 18, Cristiano Ronaldo joined Manchester United from Portuguese sports and took over the No. 7 shirt left by David Beckham. In just 6 years, he has grown from a fledgling young boy to one of the best players in the world, scoring 118 goals in 292 competitions, 84 goals in 196 Premier League games, winning 9 trophies including 3 Premier League titles and 1 Champions League title, winning the Ballon d'Or and the World Footballer of the Year.
In the 2008-09 season, Ronaldo helped Manchester United complete the second consecutive Premier League title in history, do fans and friends remember the Premier League at that time, what was the scene? The Red Devils manager at the time, of course, was Sir Alex Ferguson, and it was still 4 years before he retired. Arsenal's manager, also Wenger, has only been unveiled for 3 years at the Emirates Stadium, and there are still 9 years before he leaves the Gunners.
Liverpool's manager is still Benitez, and Chelsea's manager has been replaced by Hiddink halfway from Scolari. Manchester City have not yet risen, and the head coach is former Manchester United star Mark Hughes. David Moyes, who is still in Everton, has yet to become Ferguson's successor at Manchester United. The current England manager, Southgate, has demoted Middlesbrough. Italian star Zola began his coaching career, with the first stop being West Ham United. Premier League all-time goalscorer Alain Shearer, who temporarily took charge of Newcastle's coaching whip, was also the only time he sat on the coaching bench.
The Premier League Golden Boot winner that season was not Ronaldo. In the 2007-08 season, he scored 31 goals, but the following year, he "only" recorded 18 goals, ranking second on the top scorers list. Honours belong to Chelsea's Anelka, with the French striker scoring 19 goals. We can also see other familiar names: Gerrard with 16 goals, Robinho and Fernando Torres with 14 goals, Rooney, Lampard, Kuit with 12 goals, and even Darren Bent, Abonrajo, Kevin Davis – they are the idols of many people, the youth of many people.
Look at Manchester United at that time: C Ronaldo's side, there are Rooney, Tevez and Berbatov who has just been imported from Tottenham, Giggs, Scholes, Gary Neville, van der Sar and other veterans are still there, Leo Ferdinand and Evra are still the core of the defense, Carrick is still the main midfielder, and there are Park Ji-sung and Nani 'two wings flying together" on the flanks.
In the 38th round of the Premier League, Manchester United won 28 wins, 6 draws and 4 losses, scored 90 points, and beat Liverpool with a 4-point advantage to win the 18th top league title in the history of the team, equaling the historical record held by the Red Army in one fell swoop. Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal qualified for next season's Champions League, while Newcastle, Middlesbrough and West Bromwich Albion were unfortunately relegated.
Then, in that summer of 2009, the 24-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo left Manchester United and left the Premier League.
[In 2021, C Ronaldo returns, the Premier League has already changed dramatically]
Leaving Manchester United and joining Real Madrid, C Ronaldo climbed to the peak of his career, winning the Champions League four times in five years, including three consecutive championships, and winning the champions league in history; from Real Madrid to Juve, although he did not win the Champions League for the sixth time, but the league championship and the domestic cup champion also won a lot, still honors.
What about Manchester United after losing Ronaldo? In the 2010-11 and 2012-13 seasons, he won two more Premier League titles and reached 20 top-flight titles, officially completing the surpass of Liverpool. However, after Ferguson announced his retirement in 2013, the Reds quickly slid down to a low point, with Moyes, Van Gaal and Mourinho all three managers failing to bring back Premier League and Champions League trophies for Old Trafford.
In the past 12 years, the Premier League has also undergone earth-shaking changes. In the 2011-12 season, Manchester City beat Manchester United by goal difference to win the first Premier League title in the history of the team, announcing the rise of the blue moon. Subsequently, Spurs also became the main force of the Premier League under the careful tutelage of Harry Redknapp and Pochettino, and "BIG6" was born.
In October 2015, Klopp became Liverpool's manager, kicking off the Reds' revival until the 2019–20 season, bringing the league title to Anfield stadium again in 30 years. In the summer of 2016, Guardiola came to Manchester City and won three Premier League titles in five years, establishing the "Blue Moon Dynasty". In January, Tuchel took over Chelsea's coaching whip from Lampard and led the Blues to the Champions League Cup five months later.
There is no doubt that compared to 12 years ago, the gap between the strength of Premier League teams is smaller, the competition has become more intense, and the excellent foreign managers and players have brought more colorful football tactics and culture. Now, the 36-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo is back, and people can't help but ask this question: can he still adapt to Manchester United and adapt to the Premier League?
[C Ronaldo returns, Manchester United see the hope of winning the title? 】
Manchester United's current manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, is Ronaldo's teammate that year and played an important role in the return of Ronaldo, and Ole Gunrick, the assistant coach of Ronaldo, is another former teammate of Ronaldo - Carrick. When he left 12 years ago, Marcus Rashford was only 11 years old, new signing Sancho was only 9 years old, and rising star Greenwood was only 7 years old.
In fact, in this group of Manchester United players now, C Ronaldo is most familiar with Varane, who joined him a step earlier, because the two have been teammates at Real Madrid for 7 years. There is also Bruno Fernandez, his "little brother" in the Portuguese national team. Therefore, after C Luo returns, he must first integrate into this new collective. Of course, for his return, everyone at the Manchester United club has warmly welcomed him.
Although he is 36 years old, C Ronaldo's physical and competitive state is still very good. He scored 36 goals in all competitions last season, with United's most goal-scoring striker Marcus Rashford scoring 15 goals behind him. Just a few days earlier, he had come off the bench and was able to score a header during injury time, but was unfortunately blown off for offside.
United desperately need Cristiano Ronaldo's super scoring ability in positional warfare in order to break the deadlock more aggressively in front of the "iron barrel formation" and get more 3 points. As for the fast counter-attack tactics that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is good at, C Ronaldo is very adaptable, his sprint speed is still very fast, the running position is getting more and more sophisticated, and the certainty of scoring in the counterattack will only be higher.
In short, with the return of Cristiano Ronaldo, coupled with the addition of Sancho and Varane, the overall strength of Manchester United has improved significantly compared with last season. That being the case, then they certainly won't be satisfied with last season's runner-up. Winning the Premier League title, which has been away for many years, will be the Red Devils' biggest goal this season.
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Note: All views expressed in this article belong to the columnist himself and do not represent the official position of the Premier League.