The C|L|A|S|S|Y One - Ali

Ronaldo served despite being better ability wise than most of the players in front of him. He was already special, but because of seniority he respected the hierarchy. He waited his turn. He carried bags, he listened, he watched, he learned. He did not demand the armband. He earned it. He did not demand the respect. He waited for it. Then life turned. In his worn out days, when his legs were tired and his pace was gone, he expected others to do the same for him. Not because he was still the best player on the pitch every single game, but because that is what life is literally about. You serve when you are young, you are served when you are old. You respect the ones before you, so the ones after you will respect you. But he met a bunch of scrubs who were nervous because they had no longevity inside them. They feared their career would end soon. They had only the national team to give them relevance. No Ballon dOr story. No era. No legacy outside that shirt. So instead of learning from him, they focused majorly on hating the man. They forgot that the man they were trying to push out was the same boy in that picture who once stood quietly and let others lead him. That is the tragedy of it. He gave respect when he had everything to prove. They could not give respect when he had everything to lose.