“I’m living a dream I never want to wake up from,” this is one of Cristiano Ronaldo’s several quotes.

The 23-year-old Portuguese winger is effectively enjoying a successful career since a couple of years now – certainly, the best years in his professional life so far.

Work and determination are two notions behind Ronaldo’s incredible form for which he has received a multitude of honours. But the real factor behind his remarkable development is the comportment of the people against him.

The controversial grown kid from Madeira has learned to live with jeers, boos, and accusations since his youngest age.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s ambitious spirit builds on his irritated temperament; only the idea of reaching his goal would console him from mockeries.

In the 2006 World Cup in Germany, the incident of Rooney’s red card portrayed Ronaldo as a malicious and wicked lad. The silent Portuguese starlet quickly transformed in England’s most hated football personality. Every time Ronaldo would be on the field of play, boos and insults from the crowd would fill the atmosphere of the stadium.

But Ronaldo would put these behind and captivate the public with his sizzling performances that helped the club win its first Premiership title since 2003. Whereas everyone was predicting an amazing season for ‘the victim’ Wayne Rooney, it was ‘the guilty one’ Cristiano Ronaldo who had the better of the year – scoring 23 goals in all competitions and scooping both the PFA Player of the Year and England’s best young player of the year awards for the first time in over three decades.

It was then that Cristiano Ronaldo came in from the cold.

The Manchester United winger was mostly criticised for winking at the Portuguese bench during Rooney’s sending off, but after all the noise that it provoked in the papers, Cristiano Ronaldo recently admitted that he would have winked again if the incident was to happen once more.

If the winking moment were a cornerstone in Ronaldo’s successful path, why would he regret it? He might see his dream fade away in a blink of an eye…

Written by: Angela Asante