Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo has left football fans in stitches with his rather odd New Years message that the star posted on Instagram.
The 36-year-old made his big return to Old Trafford in the summer after departing Juventus and picked up right where he left off when he last played for the club by scoring goals.
All in all, in 2021, for club and country, Ronaldo scored an impressive 47 goals and you wouldn’t bet against him scoring a similar amount in 2022.
However, despite his success in front of goal results haven’t quite gone the way of Ronaldo and his teams.
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After dominating Italian football for nearly a decade, Juventus’ form declined in 2021 and could only finish fifth as Inter Milan won the title. The Portuguese national team underwhelmed at Euro 2020 and were eliminated in the round of 16 by Belgium and the turbulence at Man United has been well documented with former manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer stepping down after a poor run of form.
Ronaldo has appeared to have alluded to his frustrations in an Instagram posting featuring his family. In the opening paragraph of the caption, the ex-Real Madrid player writes: “2021 is coming to an end and it was far from being an easy year, despite my 47 goals scored across all competitions.”
He goes on to list some of the achievements he managed in the last 12 months but later adds: “But I’m not happy with what we are achieving in Man. United. None of us are happy, I’m sure of that. We know that we have to work harder, play better and deliver way more than we are delivering right now.”
Although nobody could begrudge him being frustrated with the situation at Man United his choice of words in the opening paragraph, left fans either puzzled or amused.
2021 was far from an easy year, despite Cristiano Ronaldo’s 47 goals scored across all competitions. pic.twitter.com/IqXKp32ChW
— Andy Ha (@AndyHa_) January 1, 2022
— Oldfirmfacts (@Oldfirmfacts1) January 1, 2022
I had to double-check that was actually real. Insane
— Adam Jones (@Adam_Jones94) January 1, 2022
There’s good news and bad news. The bad news is 2021 was far from an easy year. I know, I know. Gutting. Gutting. On a more positive note, the good news is, I scored 47 goals in all competitions. So every cloud. You’re still thinking about the bad news aren’t you. pic.twitter.com/hm7XpiUtMS
— Tim (@sockformation) January 1, 2022
A penny for Cristiano’s thoughts, despite his 47 goals across all competitions pic.twitter.com/1724CZ5dWE
— Football Ramble (@FootballRamble) January 1, 2022
"Despite my 47 goals..."
— Oddschanger (@Oddschanger) January 1, 2022
This man will never change 😂😂😂
📸 IG: cristiano pic.twitter.com/yrS306Em0F
I was saying to the Mrs only last night, if it weren’t for Christiano Ronaldo’s 47 goals across all competitions last year, I’m not sure where I’d be… #thankyou pic.twitter.com/2iRgm3XmB7
— Matt Smith (@utb_smith) January 1, 2022
Incidentally, Ronaldo can immediately start his goal tally for 2022 on Monday, when Man United face Wolverhampton Wanderers at Old Trafford in the Premier League before facing Aston Villa in the FA Cup on 10th January.
