Thierry Henry was in disbelief at seeing Cristiano Ronaldo’s epic downgrade on EA Sports FC 24.
Ronaldo, once a two-time cover star of EA’s popular franchise, has suffered his biggest drop in rating in 16 years.
The 38-year-old endured a difficult 2023 after heading to Saudi Arabia on the back of a succession of career setbacks.
Ronaldo suffered an acrimonious Manchester United exit before his World Cup dream ended in tatters as long-term rival Lionel Messi claimed glory in Qatar.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner has since made it 24 goals and seven assists in 28 games since his move to the Middle East.
Yet Ronaldo’s recent purple patch came too little too late for EA, who dropped his base overall from 90 to 86 – his lowest on an edition of their game since FIFA 07.
To add insult to injury, Messi is still at 90 while he is also eclipsed in the Saudi Pro League by Karim Benzema’s 90 and Neymar’s 89.
And Henry couldn’t believe what he was seeing when confronted with Ronaldo’s new but definitely not improved attributes.
The Arsenal legend took part in a guessing game at the FC 24 launch when he was shown a card belonging to an unnamed Saudi League player.
Henry name-checked the shooting, passing and dribbling stats to try and work out who it could be but the low scores in each left him flummoxed.
When it was revealed to be Ronaldo, Henry looked aghast as he said: “No, that’s not him.”
After the realisation set in, Henry’s face turned the picture of shock as he shouted ‘Wow’.
He then added: “That’s bad!”
EA Sports clearly believe that Ronaldo is past his best but the man himself defiantly claimed last week that he is far from finished.
Ronaldo, who has now scored in six successive games for Al Nassr, told reporters: “They say Ronaldo is done… but it’s not true.
“I will continue to play until my legs say: ‘Cristiano, I’m done’.
“I still have a lot. I still love football and scoring goals. I still love winning.
“They say I’m done but I’m still proving that it’s not true.”
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