Cristiano Ronaldo vs Tottenham compared to vs Atletico Madrid

On Saturday, Cristiano Ronaldo was the hero of the red side of Manchester, scoring a hat-trick in a vital win over Tottenham. Three days later, he was completely unable to help guide Manchester United past Atletico Madrid and into the next round of the Champions League.

What a difference three days makes. 

On Saturday, Cristiano Ronaldo was the hero of the red side of Manchester, scoring a hat-trick in a vital win over Tottenham.

Three days later, on Tuesday, Manchester United faced off against Atletico Madrid once again in Old Trafford for their Champions League Round of 16 second leg match.

The score was 1-1 after the first leg, it was all to play for and was set up for United’s star man to continue on from the weekend and see them through to the next round of the competition.

Everyone waited. And waited. Surely the one many see as “The GOAT” would step up and win the game for his side at some point.

But it was never to be. 90 minutes later, Ronaldo had not fired United into the next round, but instead a goal from Atletico’s Renan Lodi had seen the Spanish side through instead.

It was a disappointing result for United, made worse by the seeming disappearance of their main man from just the other day.

But did Cristiano Ronaldo completely disappear in a game which had so much weight behind, so much riding on it? That’s what we have come to find out.

 

Shots/ on target

Vs Tottenham: 9/5

Vs Atletico: 0/0

 

The obvious start would usually be goals scored in each game, but thats not the case in this one because Man United didn’t find a goal.

Instead, we start with the opportunities Ronaldo had. Because in the Tottenham game, he had plenty of opportunities to score. Nine shots on total with five on target gave him a 56% shot on target rate, which is very good from nine shots.

What's more is United had 11 shots in total in the game, which meant Ronaldo accounted for 82% of their shots. They also had six shots on target in total, which means only one shot on target didn’t come from Ronaldo.

Against Atletico, it was a different story. Man United had 12 shots in total, with five being on target, and none of them came from Ronaldo.

 

Shot creating actions

Vs Tottenham: 3

Vs Atletico: 0

 

Ronaldo was at arguably his best he has been all season against Tottenham. Not only was he scoring goals, but he was setting up opportunities for his teammates to attempt to score, too.

He had three shots creating actions in the game, each being a pass that led to a shot. While they didn’t come of anything, it's still good to see him providing for his teammates as well as being the man to score the goals.

Not only did Ronaldo not manage to score any goals in the game against Atletico, he also wasn’t creating any. 

 

Passes completed/ attempted

Vs Tottenham: 41/42 (97.6%)

Vs Atletico: 33/36 (91.7%)

 

Ronaldo has been very accurate in his passing in recent games. Over the last five games, he has averaged 93% passing accuracy, making 132 of his 142 passes.

Against Spurs, he almost went perfect with his passing, with just one attempt not finding a teammate. An impressive 97.6% pass accuracy, he clocked up 473 yards in total from passes, with 48 of those yards coming as progressive passes towards the opponent's goal.

Against Atletico, he was still able to convert a very high rate of his passes. In fact, while he didn’t attempt as many passes, his passes did almost travel the same amount of distance, 454 yards in total. 

As for how many yards his progressive passes got, it racked up to over the amount against Spurs, clocking in at 63.

 

Touches

Vs Tottenham: 56

Vs Atletico: 46

 

Ronaldo has always been a player that enjoys having the ball at his feet. In his prime, when on the ball, he was able to create moments of magic.

In the Spurs game, while Spurs had the most possession, United were the ones to do the most with what they had.

Ronaldo ended up having the fourth most touches for the game on the team but led them for most touches in the attacking penalty area with eight. 

Against Atletico, despite United having most of the possession, he was much lower down on the list for team touches.

And this time, he didn’t even manage to get a single touch in the attacking penalty area from his 46 touches in total, even with 23 of his touches coming in the attacking third of the pitch.

 

Dribbles/ Attempted

Vs Tottenham: 0/0

Vs Atletico: 2/3

 

It seems in the Spurs game; Ronaldo didn’t need to dribble the ball to get his goals. In fact, only five United players attempted dribbles in the game, with four of them being successful at least once.

Atletico was a different story. As they controlled possession, United needed to do more with the ball, so they attempted a lot more dribbles.

Jadon Sancho attempted the most, with nine attempts, five being successful. But Ronaldo was also mostly successful, successfully completing two of his three total dribbles.

If that doesn’t sound all that impressive, bear in mind that he averages 1.4 dribbles per game with a success rate of 78.1%.

 

Aerial duels won/ lost

Vs Tottenham: 4/0 (100%)

Vs Atletico: 0/2 (0%)

 

Ronaldo has always been marvelled as a genius in the air, with an unrivalled vertical leap that puts NBA players to shame.

In the Premier League, he has scored a total of 10 headed goals from his 96 total goals scored. And a number from a Mirror article puts his total headed goals for his career at 110.

Against Spurs, he showed his dominance in the air, winning all four of his aerial duels. His third goal came from a splendid header after he was left wide open from a corner.

Though it seemed he left his aerial ability at home against Atletico, as he didn’t win either of his two aerial duels.

A shame, overall, as many expected him to continue putting on a clinic against a team he once saw as his city rivals