Chicharito Hernandez on CR7: "It's UNFAIR how they are treating him now"

Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez has strongly defended Cristiano Ronaldo, claiming the Portuguese superstar is being treated unfairly and suggesting some critics have become more comfortable attacking him now that he is in the latter stages of his career.

The former Real Madrid striker, who played alongside Ronaldo during the 2014/15 season, has spoken about the personality behind one of football’s biggest names and why he believes the public perception of the five-time Ballon d’Or winner does not always match the person he encountered as a teammate.

According to Chicharito, Ronaldo’s extraordinary confidence and determination to be the best can sometimes be interpreted as arrogance. But the Mexican insists his experience of Ronaldo was very different.

“It’s unfair how they are treating him now,” Chicharito said.

“You know why a lot of people are starting to speak bad about him now? Because they couldn’t in the past.”

Chicharito made it clear that he does not believe Ronaldo’s reputation needs protecting by former teammates.

“I don’t even, like, get into defending him, because you don’t need to. You don’t need to, it’s Cristiano Ronaldo.”

Chicharito Says Ronaldo Is Misunderstood

Chicharito’s comments come as debates surrounding Ronaldo’s personality, performances and place among football’s greatest players continue even in the later stages of his career.

The Mexican forward believes there is an important difference between being extremely competitive and being arrogant.

Having spent a season alongside Ronaldo at Real Madrid, Chicharito had the opportunity to observe the Portuguese star away from the cameras and see how he interacted with teammates.

He has described Ronaldo as a much more humble and human person privately than the image sometimes presented publicly.

That experience appears to have shaped Chicharito’s reaction to some of the criticism Ronaldo receives today.

For him, the enormous confidence Ronaldo displays should be viewed alongside the amount of work required to maintain his position at the top of football for such a long period.

Why Chicharito Thinks Ronaldo Receives So Much Criticism

One of the most interesting parts of Chicharito’s argument concerns why criticism of Ronaldo has seemingly become louder.

During Ronaldo’s peak years, responding to him on the pitch was extremely difficult.

Season after season, he scored huge numbers of goals, won major trophies and produced decisive performances in some of football’s biggest matches.

Any criticism could quickly be answered by another goal, record or trophy.

Chicharito’s suggestion is that the situation has changed as Ronaldo has grown older.

The Portuguese forward can now be compared with the extraordinary standards established by his younger self, creating opportunities for critics to focus on what he can no longer do rather than what he has achieved throughout his career.

Chicharito does not appear to believe that Ronaldo should be protected from legitimate football analysis. His point is instead that criticism of the player can sometimes go beyond analysing individual performances and become an attempt to diminish his overall legacy.

Chicharito Saw Ronaldo at His Real Madrid Peak

Chicharito is particularly well placed to discuss Ronaldo because the pair shared a dressing room during an important period of the Portuguese star’s career.

The Mexican joined Real Madrid on loan from Manchester United for the 2014/15 campaign.

It placed him inside a dressing room containing some of the biggest names in world football, including Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale, Luka Modric and Toni Kroos.

Ronaldo was operating at an extraordinary level during that period.

Chicharito therefore witnessed the work behind those performances rather than simply watching the results from the outside.

He has previously rejected suggestions that Ronaldo was a difficult teammate, explaining that the Portuguese forward demanded extremely high standards from himself and wanted to be the best.

That competitive mentality could occasionally be misunderstood, according to Hernandez, but he did not experience Ronaldo as someone who deliberately made life difficult for his teammates.

Ronaldo’s Confidence Can Be Mistaken for Arrogance

Ronaldo has rarely attempted to hide his belief in his own ability.

Throughout his career, he has openly discussed his ambitions, records and desire to be considered among the greatest players football has produced.

That confidence has earned him enormous admiration from supporters, but it has also contributed to criticism.

Chicharito believes people sometimes make the mistake of automatically treating extreme self-confidence as arrogance.

For an athlete operating at Ronaldo’s level, he argues, believing in your own ability is part of what allows you to continue competing under enormous pressure.

Ronaldo has spent much of his career being compared with Lionel Messi, while almost every major performance has been analysed around the world.

Maintaining that level of scrutiny for more than two decades requires an unusual mentality.

Chicharito Addresses the Messi Comparison

The never-ending Ronaldo versus Messi debate also forms part of the discussion.

Chicharito has previously resisted attempts to reduce the two players to a simple choice, arguing that they are different footballers with different qualities.

His personal relationship with Ronaldo naturally gives him an insight that he does not have with Messi.

However, Chicharito’s argument is not that Messi needs to be criticised more. Instead, he believes Ronaldo’s personality can lead to different treatment because the Portuguese star is more outspoken about his own achievements.

The two superstars have dominated discussions about football greatness for much of the last two decades, winning major individual honours while breaking records that once appeared almost impossible to reach.

Their different personalities have inevitably influenced how supporters and sections of the media perceive them.

Ronaldo’s Achievements Are Chicharito’s Biggest Defence

Ultimately, Chicharito believes Ronaldo’s career provides its own answer to his critics.

The Portuguese forward has won five Ballon d’Or awards and five Champions League titles, as well as domestic league championships in England, Spain and Italy.

With Portugal, he helped his country win Euro 2016 and later added further international honours.

His goalscoring numbers have also taken him into territory no other men’s player had previously reached, while his longevity has allowed him to continue adding milestones long after most players from his generation retired from elite football.

Those achievements explain why Chicharito does not feel the need to constantly defend his former teammate.

Criticism will continue. Debates about Ronaldo and Messi will continue. Questions about Ronaldo’s personality and performances will probably continue for as long as he remains one of football’s most recognisable figures.

But from Chicharito’s perspective, those conversations cannot erase what Ronaldo has already accomplished.

He saw the Portuguese star’s mentality and personality from inside the Real Madrid dressing room, and his conclusion is clear: the public version of Cristiano Ronaldo is not always the same person his teammates experienced behind the scenes.

And when it comes to defending Ronaldo’s football legacy, Chicharito believes there is little that needs to be said. The career speaks for itself.