Cristiano Ronaldo’s 9-year reign as the undisputed king of Real Madrid came to an end on Tuesday as sources in Italy announced the Portuguese’s arrival to Juventus for a £105m fee.
Earlier today, reports circulated from several media outlets in Spain, namely Madrid-based Marca and Italian newspaper La Gazzeto dello Sport that Juventus chief Andrea Agnelli met Ronaldo in Greece and it seems as if the pep-talk has worked out pretty well for Italian football lovers.
During his time at Madrid, Ronaldo scored 450 goals in 438 games, while he also won 4 Champions League title (3 on the trot) and 4 Ballon d’Ors.
For Madrid fans, and Spain’s football supporters, it has been a roller coaster announcement. For Madrid fans, it is a day of disappointment as their superstar, and perhaps their most influential player in-front of goal will no more be pulling the strings next season.
Supporters of arch-rivals Barcelona seem to be joking around, and laughing at the Madridista misery. It could not have been any other way.
Here are some of the more utterly disappointed and unapologetically mean reactions from the world of Twitter.
‘Saddest day of my life’ says one Ronaldo fan
https://twitter.com/10LukitaModric/status/1016693687974289409
‘I’ll miss him too much’
https://twitter.com/dua_waseem/status/1016705682836459521
There were also ones who thanked Ronaldo for making them fall in love with football
https://twitter.com/Daniel2x_1/status/1016711999496081409
Even one Barcelona fan felt sad
Cristiano Ronaldo just joined Juventus, wow never thought he would do it.. La Liga lost a key figure and as Barça fans, we should be sad that he left cause now real Madrid will play more as a team and not for an individual…
They could become more threatening but we are Barça🤣
— Barça Worldwide (@BarcaWorldwide) July 10, 2018
But not a lot of Barcelona fans shared similar sentiments as they opted to ‘troll’ and joke about Real Madrid, Ronaldo and everything related.
Messi to Napoli?
(For those who don’t know, Napoli are Juventus’ fierce rivals, much like the Barcelona-Real Madrid rivalry. Hence, one Barca fans jokes about the Messi-Ronaldo rivalry in a pretty subtle way… let’s say)
It's Time pic.twitter.com/PCszKORiKr
— A D I L (@Barzaboy) July 10, 2018
That’s a perfect example of ‘sorry not sorry’
Ronaldo leaves Spain after winning 2 La Liga titles in the time he has spent. Really “conquered” Spain hey? 🌚😂
Okay, jokes aside. Good luck on your future @Cristiano and thanks for your comedic performances in La Liga. #GraciasCristiano— Naseeha (@FCNazalona) July 10, 2018
Serie A fans, worried? Not a chance
Haha not even worried that Ronaldo joined Juve. Better for Serie A and anyway, Skriniar Miranda and De Vrij will stop him from even thinking of scoring vs us.
— حامد (@Hamoody1908) July 10, 2018
*Titanic music plays in the background*
The Messi-Ronaldo rivalry will never be the same again
— Dean Jones (@DeanJonesSoccer) July 10, 2018
As they say, people in your life are chapters of your story and not the story itself. The story is you. This holds true for both Real Madrid and Cristiano Ronaldo as they were just a chapter for one another, but their stories continue.
Poetic? You bet.