why would he expect normal people to buy his underwear!?
Oh this is gold. He can't not play because they're important games, but he can't play because he won't get to have Portugal vote for him.
The joke flew right over everyone's head I see, why am I not surprised?
When he says "normal people", he means people who don't irrationally hate him because he plays/played for a rival team, City being rivals for United and Barca being rivals for Madrid. But yeah, lets just go with the arrogance accusation, even though what he says is 100% true.
Yeah, that interpretation totally suggests itself. [...]
It was obvious enough to me, especially when he mentioned City and not just Barca on it's own. Both rival clubs of clubs he has played for and football fans in general are well known for hating their rival clubs best players for illogical reasons, going as far as to avoid buying magazine's they are on the cover of. Nothing about this sort of behaviour is "normal".
The line of thought needed to get this joke should be easy to come by for anyone who has followed football for any amount of time.
In that sense all soccer fans are the same, not just Barca and City fans, none of them is normal I guess.
So why did he single out Barca and City fans and suggest that the rest of them are normal?
It's fine. None of the current City fans supported City when Ronaldo played for United.I already explained this, Barca and City are main rivals of the teams he has played for, Madrid and United, that's the only reason they are being singled out. Fans of Juventus, Dortmund, PSG etc are be seen as "normal" in this situation because they are neutral parties, they don't give two shits about the rivalries between the clubs, they have their own club rivalries to worry about and rival opposition players to irrationally hate. They will not be as irrational in their hate of Ronaldo like Barca and City fans will be. Just like Barca and City fans won't be as irrational in their hate of Samaras like Rangers fans are, and trust me, they are.
If Ronaldo had played for Juventus and Celtic he would have singled out Torino and Rangers fans instead. This should be bloody obvious.
Cristiano Ronaldo will not attend FIFA Ballon d'Or Gala
FIFA's Ballon d'Or contender profiles proved the final straw for the Real Madrid man, with Leo Messi and Franck Ribéry handed more generous write-ups.
MANU SAINZ
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15 de noviembre de 2013 17:33h
Cristiano Ronaldo will not attend the FIFA Gala on 13 January – an event which includes the presentation of the 2013 Ballon d’Or – as a result of the treatment he has received at the hands of world football’s governing body in recent months.
The publication of FIFA’s Ballon d’Or contender profiles is considered to be the final straw for the Real Madrid man, with the organisation handing rivals Lionel Messi and Franck Ribéry more positive write-ups.
In October, Cristiano was left angered by remarks made by FIFA president Sepp Blatter. During an appearance at Oxford Univesity, Blatter admitted his preference for Messi in the race for the Ballon d’Or, and appeared to mock Cristiano’s on-field movements. The FIFA chief later attempted to explain himself in Twitter messages to the Portugal international, but failed to offer an explicit apology for his words.
Blatter recently commented that he intended to speak privately to Cristiano at the FIFA Gala. However, the player is not interested in meeting the FIFA president or in making the journey to Zurich, where he is certain to be among the final five contenders for the annual award.