Ronaldo The German Tormentor!

 

Germany have one job, and one job alone in Salvador, this evening. Stop Ronaldo.

With Spain having been humiliated at the hands of the Netherlands, Joachim Low’s team are now seen as the European favourites to win the World Cup, and a good result against Portugal is to be expected.

At least it would be, if it weren’t for Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese strikes fear into opposition at the best of times, but for Germany, he is even more terrifying.

After he and his Real Madrid team mates dispatched Schalke, Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich in last season’s Champions League, Ronaldo has come to be known as the 'Deutschlandschreck'. It loosely translates as 'Germany’s Tormentor'.

As the Tagesspiegel wrote today, 'Germany’s chances of a good start to the World Cup would improve dramatically if they can play Ronaldo out of the game'.

That is the popular view, and the reason why every tiny development on Ronaldo’s fitness has been meticulously recorded in the German media. Portugal without Ronaldo are there to be beaten. Portugal with Ronaldo are an equally matched opponent.

From the German camp itself, the situation is viewed differently. Low sees the whole Portugal side as 'the World Champions in counter attacking', while Benedikt Howedes said this week that 'It’s not Germany against Ronaldo, it’s Germany against Portugal'.

 

Jerome Boateng was equally quick to play down fears of the Real Madrid man, saying 'I’ve faced him a lot of times in the Champions League and for Germany before. It’s not like I’m sitting in my room all the time watching videos of him. 

'Of course I can’t stop him on my own,' Boateng added, 'no defender can do that. We need to work together as a team to stop him'.

Put like that, there is room for optimism. History tells us that Germany are one of the most effective teams when it comes to stopping Ronaldo. The Portugese has played against the Germans three times at a major tournament. On each occasion, Germany have won, and Ronaldo has not found the net.

In some corners, there is optimism that this will happen again. This morning, the Berlin tabloid BZ appeared with a slightly disturbing picture of Ronaldo as an elderly man, with the headline 'Today we will make Ronaldo look old'. 

Nevertheless, this is a different Ronaldo to the one they have faced before. Germany cannot simply rely on records to make sure his side are not tormented by the Ballon d’Or winner.