Cristiano Ronaldo kissed the Saudi crest, wrapped himself in the flag, and told the cameras: "I am Portuguese, but I belong to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia." Half the internet decided he's cracking up. He's working.
This is the mistake everyone keeps making with him. They want the decline to be sad, so they read a pledge of allegiance as the first symptom of a man losing his grip. It's the opposite. The gesture came after his 981st career goal, in a Champions League win for Al-Nassr, and it did exactly what it was built to do. Saudi Arabia has invested heavily in making him the face of its football project. In return, the face says thank you on the pitch, in the biggest font available. That's what the flag and the crest are for: payment, made where everyone can see it.
Call it narcissism if you like, and some of it clearly is. Narcissism and the paycheck are the same thing here. Saudi Arabia is paying for adoration, and Ronaldo has always needed to be told he's the most important person in the room. Build an environment that flatters him daily and you don't get to act surprised when he kisses the crest. He said a while back that he wanted to live there forever. He said the people who called him crazy for the move now know he was right. The flag is the loudest version of a line he's been repeating for ages.
The sympathetic read makes some sense, up to a point. In Riyadh he is the whole operation. Back with Portugal he's the man Jorge Jesus keeps leaving on the bench, who walked out of the national team camp in a dispute and ended up apologizing to his teammates. One place treats him like the sun. The other treats him like a squad member. A person is going to lean toward the place that still worships him.
It's an incentive. He's doing the rational thing for a man whose entire value in Saudi football rests on his own willingness to sell the fantasy. Pledging yourself to the Kingdom is the job description.
Who's responsible is not a mystery. A state that treats a footballer's loyalty as something you can purchase gets precisely the loyalty it paid for, delivered with a kiss. Ronaldo signed up for this, counted the money, and understood the terms better than the people mocking him do. He belongs to Saudi Arabia because it bought him, and he said so himself.
