The media tore him apart the next morning
Too selfish
Too flashy
No end product
One paper called him a circus act
Another said he'd never be as good as Beckham
They didn't care that he'd scored
They only saw the tricks
The flair
The confidence
Sir Alex didn't defend him publicly
He never did
But behind closed doors he told Cristiano one thing
"If they're talking about you
You're already in their heads
Now earn the fear"
Cristiano took it personally
He always did
He stopped reading newspapers
He stopped going out
He stopped smiling after goals
He trained harder
Harder than anyone had seen
Weights
Sprints
Finishing
Free kicks
Recovery ice baths at midnight
Jumping drills until his legs shook
Players started whispering
"This kid's crazy"
"Does he sleep?"
Cristiano didn't care
He had a list in his journal
A list of every journalist that called him a joke
He would check off each name one by one when he proved them wrong
Then came the next match
Another rainy day
Another tough team
Cristiano was fouled five times in the first half
Hard
Nasty
One defender spat at his boots
"You think you're a star?
Go back to Portugal"
Cristiano didn't reply
He waited
Kept moving
Kept pressing
Then in the 78th minute
He got the ball
Faked once
Twice
The defender lunged
Cristiano chopped the ball back with a lightning turn and curled it into the top corner
Silence
Then thunder from the crowd
He didn't celebrate
Just stared at the cameras
Like he could see through the lens into every newsroom
He was done playing nice
The doubters gave him fuel
And he was done starving
He was going to eat everything they threw at him and turn it into fire