Why do people like destroying winning systems? Pride! In NBA many years ago, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal were winning in LA Lakers – then, one felt he could win without the other. The rest is history.
The outclassing of C. Ronaldo and Juventus last night, by Ajax, has shown that even Ronaldo needs Real Madrid just as Real Madrid needs him. There is nothing else he will win in Italy this year Juventus has not been winning without him. The President of Real Madrid wanted to prove a point – and Ronaldo also wanted to make his own point. Today, all backfired: Real Madrid is laughable this year and Ronaldo’s season came short.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s hopes of Champions League glory with Juventus are over, for this year at least, after yet another stunning performance by Ajax in their quarter-final second leg in Turin.
Goals from Donny van de Beek and Matthijs de Ligt cancelled out Ronaldo’s opener and sealed a 3-2 aggregate victory for the Dutch side, who knocked out Ronaldo’s former club Real Madrid in the previous round.
Juventus splashed out €100 million (£86.4/$133m) to bring Ronaldo to Turin with the expectation it could fuel a charge for European glory.
In business, sometimes, wisdom is managing these extraordinary talented people. If you just have the mentality they can leave, the end result may be bad for them – and also for you. Sure, Ronaldo has his $133 million to make more statutes but he might have won his last Champions League.
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Both Real Madrid and Ronaldo lost last night!
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Comment #1: Same thought went through my mind. CR7 needed Marcelo with the dangerous crosses, Ramos with the we-die-here spirit, Modric with the small job in the midfield. He couldn’t get them. Madrid needed the finishing of Ronaldo, but they couldn’t get it. Lose-lose situation.
Comment 2: It would be mistaken to assume/presume that had Ronaldo remained in Madrid, another Champions League would have been possible this year. When you look at Real Madrid trajectory in the last few years, the team peaked in 2017, winning Champions League in 2018 papered over a serious crack, in a disastrous campaign. It was actually a question of when, not if; the team had been in decline, but any magical night kept making everything else look fine…
As for Juventus, the team have had fundamental flaws in the last few years, they always looked good on the surface, but always cracked any time they faced a good team with fast players; check their records in the last four years. The Juve’s deficiencies are beyond what Ronaldo alone can cover; they are atrocious most times in Europe, only looking good when playing cagey football against average teams.
For businesses, keeping one or two star performers happy may not save you all the time, if you fail to address the fundamental flaws that breed inefficiencies in several departments. That you have an experienced pilot won’t save an airline who fails to run all the checks over long period of time; the aircraft will still carve in at some point.
A defective heart may fail any body part.
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