Written By: Nirmalya Dutta | Updated : June 19, 2014 8:58 AM IST
Cristiano Ronaldo is the hero of the new animated Nike short film The Last Game where he leads a bunch of the world's top footballers to reclaim football from dour clones who don't take risks during games. The motif of the entire ad and the campaign is 'Risk Everything' but is the Portuguese actually doing that by playing in the World Cup despite carrying a knee injury?
A Portuguese surgeon had warned Cristiano Ronaldo that he could be putting his future in jeopardy by continuing to play with a knee injury. According to Spanish online newspaper El Confidencial, Portuguese surgeon Jose Carlos Noronha told the 29-year-old: 'Let your knee rest, or your future is in danger', to which Ronaldo reportedly replied: 'I'm the one that says whether I'm playing or not.'
While Ronaldo's reply and desire to take his place among the immortals of world football by performing well on a big stage is understandable, it shouldn't be at the cost of a glittering football career that is at its peak. The Real Madrid star was a major doubt ahead of the tournament with FPF saying he had overcome a thigh problem and tendonitis in the knee that forced him to miss training and two warm-up matches.
Ronaldo however declared himself 100% fit on the eve of the match against Germany where they were absolutely humiliated by the Germans and thrashed 4-0. Ronaldo himself was a peripheral figure looking more like the Sulk than the Hulk. It seems that the footballer has suffered a recurrence of the knee problem as he was seen receiving treatment during a training session in Campinas.
Instead of being in the thick of things, the Portuguese watched from the sidelines with a bandaged knee on ice for the last 30 minutes. Portugal is already without Pepe who was given a red card in the last game and might be banned for more. Real Madrid defender Fabio Coentrao has already been ruled out of the rest of the World Cup with a thigh injury while Hugo Almeida and Rui Patricio.
Ghanaian witch doctor to blame for Ronaldo's injury?
A witch doctor from Ghana claims he's behind the series of injuries ailing Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo. Nana Kwaku Bosnam, 'Ghana's most influential witch doctor' according to The Guardian predicted Ronaldo would miss the World Cup shortly after Ghana was drawn in the same group as Portugal, United States and Germany. 'I know what Cristiano Ronaldo's injury is about, I'm working on him,' Bonsam told a local radio station according to The Guardian. He also claimed that the injury couldn't be cared by a medic.
'This injury can never be cured by any medic, they can never see what is causing the injury because it is spiritual. Today, it is his knee, tomorrow it is his thigh, next day it is something else. I am very serious about it. Last week, I went around looking for four dogs and I got them to be used in manufacturing a special spirit called Kahwiri Kapam.'
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