CRISTIANO RONALDO has scored over 900 goals during his glittering career.
And needless to say, he has celebrated them in different ways.
In recent years, we’ve all become accustomed to his famous ‘Siuuu’ goal celebration.
But a strike in the AFC Champions League Elite with Al Nassr saw CR7 raise his hands in the air and face the sky with his eyes closed.
After the match, he dedicated the goal to his late father who would have turned 71 that day.
“Today’s goal has a different flavour… I wish my father was alive because today is his birthday,” Ronaldo said.
Over the years, Ronaldo, 39, has celebrated goals in very different ways.
With the help of body language expert Darren Stanton, SunSport has teamed up with OLBG to tell us the hidden meaning behind the goal celebrations below.
An early strike against Spurs
Ronaldo was just a teenager when he started scoring for Man Utd in 2004.
Here, his first celebration, is in its most primitive form.
Darren says: “Here we see a gesture with clenched fist. That’s the sort of origin of him really developing his confidence. This is a power gesture some sort of superhero might make.
“At this point in his career, he was reasonably humble. This has pretty much always been his celebration when he’s done well, and [knowing what comes later in his career] this is already saying, pure power. I am the man.”
Arrogance personified
In 2006, establishing himself as one of the world’s best young players, Ronaldo found the net against Wigan.
What followed wasn’t an act of humility.
Darren says: “This is a very interesting power gesture but what’s more interesting is that he’s obviously developed a lot in his career and self-confidence at this point already.
“So this is much more of an arrogant kind of gesture because his face is not one of humility like in the earlier image and his eyebrows are together, his eyes are pulled down. Really he’s sort of gesturing his mouth, he’s sort of shouting.
“It’s much more of a look at me, look at me type gesture. It’s a demonstration of spreading itself out into more space. So it’s more or less saying, look at me, I’m all powerful. Now we’re seeing elements of arrogance and cockiness creeping in.”
Look at those muscles
Now a full international, Ronaldo’s full of self-importance.
This couldn’t be more evident than how he celebrated a 2004 Euro semi-final strike against the Netherlands.
Darren says: “The more space that a person occupies, it’s really telling us what’s happening internally. We see again the evolution of Ronaldo, we see he’s got his top off and he’s making this sort of Bruce Lee gesture.
“He’s flexing his muscles, he’s spreading his arms out. It is a very powerful image. It’s one of sheer arrogance, but also determination. So there’s quite a lot of emotions.
“It’s an extreme gesture because the more space we occupy, the more important that we perceive ourselves to be in the environment.”
‘Genuine’ happiness
In 2009, Ronaldo was already recognised as the best player on the planet.
And, at this time in his career playing for Real Madrid, he was the happiest he may have been.
Darren says: “In this photo, we see a much more developed personality and his character traits. There’s some cheekiness coming in now and a big broad smile.
“The way that we can tell that someone is genuinely happy, in a state of joy, is that they have what we call laughter lines or crow’s feet. This is present in anybody of any age, from their 20s right up to their 80s and older.
“If these lines aren’t present, it’s a fake smile, but in this photo we can tell that Ronaldo is obviously over the moon.
“We’re still getting a tell-tale power gesture. This is his baseline default setting for ‘I am the man’. But we’re now seeing this massive smile come across his face.”
The biggest stage
At the World Cup in 2006, Ronaldo is already portraying himself as all-conquering.
He dropped to his knees after a strike against Iran, and looked to the heavens. But what did that mean?
Darren says: “The next image is a really iconic kind of power gesture because we’ve now not only got him making this trademark power gesture, we’ve also got him on his knees.
“It’s almost like he’s praying. He’s got his eyes closed. It’s almost like meditation in a way. He’s sort of screaming to the heavens. Again, we’ve got him spreading himself out on his knees.
“It’s just a complete power gesture and it’s all about him. He feels he’s the conduit. He’s the main man. He’s the star of the show. We’ve still got these moments of arrogance coming in, but also the fact that he feels absolutely all-powerful and continues to grow in his confidence.”
The moment it changed
His first goal for Juventus in 2018 saw Ronaldo copy a ‘chin thrust’ reminiscent of Conor McGregor.
A shift in his personal perception of himself has changed, according to Stanton.
Darren says: “In this particular photograph, there are much more advanced versions of some of the character traits that we’ve seen. We’re still seeing this kind of power gesture with the hands, but it’s changed. It’s almost like he’s flying.
“He’s like the leader of the pack. You’ve got the rest of his team-mates behind him, but he’s very much front and centre, and we can see this expression of elation. His jaw is out.
“That’s what we call a chin thrust, very reminiscent of Conor McGregor who tends to stick his chin out, and it’s saying I’m more important, I’m arrogant. It’s an arrogance gesture and it’s designed to undermine and demotivate other people in terms of challenging their authority and position.
“We’re now seeing him moving to a much higher level of self-confidence and personal power so we’ve got his hands by his side now as opposed to the front.
“We’ve got this much more defined facial image and his arms are behind him. It’s almost like he’s flying like a superhero.
“I think this was the pivotal moment that we saw a shift in his personal sort of perception of himself.”
Siuuu!
It’s Ronaldo’s most iconic goal celebration, recognised in the FIFA games, and we saw it in the Premier League.
Here he celebrates scoring a penalty against Arsenal.
Darren says: “This image is really iconic and we know that it went viral and was copied by millions of people.
“Again, we’ve got the most grandiose extension of personal power because he’s airborne, he’s jumping in the air and, in terms of more space, you can’t get more in his personal proximity than this.
“The fact that he’s mid-air, he’s got his arm up. This is probably 10 generations on from the first sort of gestures that we began to see.
“He feels all powerful, he is at the pinnacle of his career. The world’s at his feet and he knows he’s considered to be the best player in the world.
“The fact that he’s got his arm out, extended, so that’s extending his height, he’s jumping in the air, again, the more space we occupy, the more powerful we feel.”
Humble Ronaldo
Back in September, Ronaldo became the first player to score 900 top-level career goals in a game playing for Portugal against Croatia.
It brought out a much more humble Ronaldo.
Darren says: “For this image, we see a very, very different version of Ronaldo. He’s in what we call a fetal position. Conversely, as I mentioned before, we tend to make ourselves bigger to create a more grandiose sense of self-importance with ourselves.
“This is Ronaldo returning to being the very humble man that he once was. He’s making himself as small as possible. He’s on his knees, his knees are tucked up. He’s covering his face, his head’s tucked in.
“This is basically the opposite of the Ronaldo that people know. It’s much more humble and he’s not really trying to convey power. It’s more of a, not sadness, but it’s more of a sort of, it’s not a power gesture.
“When someone makes themselves into a fetal position they’re trying to withdraw from everything. It means that they’re returning inward.
“It’s not about anybody else, it’s about himself and he’s returning to a much more humble version of himself because he loves his country, he’s got such pride and passion and confidence and motivation.”
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Just like Trump
A goal for Al Nassr last month saw Ronaldo’s cock-sure attitude return.
In fact, Stanton likened it to Donald Trump.
Darren says: “In this particular photo, we see him after he’s made his journey out to Saudi Arabia. This is a really interesting photo because he obviously had his issues back at United.
“Now he’s at the front of the rest of his colleagues and we see some really interesting gestures from him.
“Number one, we’ve got this chin thrust that’s returned. So his head’s up, his chin’s sticking out. This is arrogance, this is defiance. This is look at me, you know, I’m the man.
“He’s got this kind of cocky smirk on his face as well. You know, it’s somebody saying, dare I say, “up yours”, you know. It’s defiant. Look at me now, look at me now. Even though he may not have got the gravitas he did at United, it’s still very much power gestures.
“Also, his shoulders are tucked right back, so he’s creating the space, and also he’s got his hands interlocked, which again is a power gesture, which we often see politicians like Donald Trump make, or a sort of steeple gesture. It’s all strong, all strength.
“Look at me now, I’ve soared and again, his feet are spread apart, creating this extra space. He’s basically saying to the world, look at me now, I am still the man.”
A deeper meaning
On the day that would have been Ronaldo’s father’s birthday, he celebrated a strike for Al Nassr by pointing to the sky.
It brought out a more reflective side of the CR7.
Darren says: “This is sort of an extension of some of the gestures we’ve seen before with Ronaldo. It’s in Saudi Arabia.
“He’s pointing to the heavens. It’s quite an ethereal sort of gesture, like he feels he’s connected to a higher power almost. Again, it’s a power gesture saying, look at me, look at me, but it’s not demonstrating arrogance now.
“This is more what we call introspective power. He’s probably thinking to himself, you know, I’ve been on this journey for so long. It’s shifted from saying look at me to the world to him being more reflective and introspective.”
