Fitness routines, training sessions, iconic goal celebrations, and other collective acts have crystalized into established cultural systems in football.
However, footballers do embrace other individual rituals. From tunnel prayers to touching the pitch before entry, to group prayers on the field, the list is endless.
World’s footballing icon and five-time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo is not an exception.
Regarded as the biggest influence in modern football, Ronaldo has been spotted by eagle-eyed fans observing a repeated pattern of behavior while entering the pitch since he moved to Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia.
Each time he wants to step into the pitch from the tunnel, he will always do so with his right leg stepping into the field first before his left leg.
As sublime as such acts may appears, it’s normal for it to prick the curiosity of fans, more so, since he did not use to observe it while he was playing in Europe, where he had hewn out a gigantic career with Manchester United and Real Madrid.
While there would be questions on why the Portuguese footballing icon is religiously observing his new ritual, Portuguese fan Jessica has demystified the gesture.
Jessica, who spoke on YouTube, said Cristiano Ronaldo’s right-foot-first gesture is not strange but a core element in the Portuguese culture.
According to her, there is a Portuguese symbolic phrase, ‘entra com a direita,’ which is translated as ‘enter with the right.’ And that is what Ronaldo has been observing at Al-Nassr.
Jessica added the footballing sensation is not into any superstition as many fans will think but just acting out a norm that has been strongly entrenched in his homeland’s culture, including other countries like Russia, Brazil, Italy, Greece, Indonesia, Asia, and Muslim countries.
It is due to a saying in Portuguese culture – ‘entra com a direita’, which means ‘enter with the right’.
“The right one thing isn’t superstition. It’s a Portuguese culture ‘entra com a direita’ meaning enter with the right,” Jessica said.
‘And it’s pretty common in other countries too, Spain, India, Indonesia, Italy, Greece, Brazil, Russia, Asian countries, and Muslim counties too. Nothing strange,” she added.
Away from the controversial ritual, Ronaldo has been in the form his life since joining Al-Nassr. He finished the 2023 calendar year as the world’s highest goalscorer with 54 goals. This season, the 39-year-old has scored a league-leading 33 goals in 38 appearances for Al-Nassr and is in pole position to win the Saudi Pro League Golden Boot.
However, his prolific goalscoring tally seems not to have translated to Al-Nassr’s overall success. The Riyadh-based outfit have lost out on the Saudi Pro League title race finishing as runners-up twice since Ronaldo joined.
They have also lost out of the AFC Champions League, 2023 Saudi Kings Cup, and Saudi Super Cup. Ronaldo’s only silverware with Al-Nassr is the 2023 Arab Club Champions Cup but the Portuguese could add the 2024 Saudi King’s Cup to the collection if Al-Nassr edge out arch-rivals Al-Hilal in the final.
