Has Cristiano Ronaldo damaged his brand with his own hubris, this time?

Has hubris finally caught up with Cristiano Ronaldo? Because his desire for UCL football seems incompatible with what he can offer a club.

Somehow, you just get the feeling that in his head, it wasn’t meant to look like this.

Cristiano Ronaldo is all about the mythology building. It’s explicit in that relentless demand for betterment and in the endless chase for records and trophies. This has always been a player who’s given the impression of having one eye on his legacy. He never just wanted to be the greatest. He gave every impression of wanting to be the greatest of all-time.

All that ‘GOAT’ stuff that clogs every mention of him on social media? It’s difficult not to imagine him scrolling through it all, curling his lip slightly, and nodding his head in quiet agreement with it all.

But real life and the passage of time don’t necessarily run according to the structure of a Hallmark Movie, and so it is that the chapter of his autobiography that tackles the end of his playing career has already taken a plot twist that might prove difficult for him to extricate himself from.

If he harboured ambitions of single-handedly dragging United to winning the Champions League through sheer strength of will last season, that ambition floundered and eventually foundered at the first knockout stage against Atletico Madrid.

If he harboured ambitions of single-handedly dragging United to the top of the Premier League through sheer strength of will last season, that ambition floundered and eventually foundered by the middle of the autumn, as Manchester City and Liverpool pulled clear at the top of the table.

If he harboured ambitions of single-handedly dragging United to the FA Cup through sheer strength of will last season, that floundered and eventually foundered in a Fourth Round penalty shootout against Middlesbrough.

If he harboured ambitions of single-handedly dragging United to the Carabao Cu- well, you get the picture.

All of which leaves qualification for the following season’s Champions League, but if Ronaldo harboured ambitions of single-handedly dragging United into the following season’s competition through sheer strength of will last season, that collapsed as the season reached its final stages. But this only really begs the question that is at the heart of his summer machinations.

If he was so certain that Old Trafford in the Europa League was beneath him, why was it not until the start of July that it became clear that this was his…