From flying winger to deadly finisher: How Cristiano Ronaldo changed his game

Critics can absolutely insist on the contrary, curbing the achievements of the Real Madrid talisman and say that Cristiano Ronaldo has more appearances in the magical nights of the UEFA Champions League and has been fortunate to grace the attacking line ups of the two most feared outfits in Europe; so his topping the all-time goal scoring charts is not something exemplary. 

But, it would be worth noting that this legend from Madeira did not find the net in his first 30 outings. So, as he matured he continued to find the net with a steady consistency and doubting his abilities at this stage would be living in a fool's paradise. 

As he set foot on Allianz Arena on Wednesday night, his fight was not only against the barrage of criticism hurled at him during his 197 days of European goalless streak but mostly against his towering self-standard that he has set for him. It can be just 11 hours for any other striker since he last scored against Borussia Dortmund, but to Ronaldo its like eternity. His insatiable quest for glory and victory establishes himself as one of the greatest to have graced the game. 

With his brace against Bayern Munich, he now holds a staggering record of 100 goals in European competition and Bayern must be sick of his sight. Back in 2014, Ronaldo killed off the semi-final encounter at the Allianz Arena scoring a free-kick as he sent sent a perfectly timed ball beneath the human wall leaving Manuel Neuer as a mere spectator. Once again, this time when Bayern had completely smothered Real Madrid in the first half and was leading, courtesy a bullet header from Arturo Vidal, he again cropped up to destroy Bayern's party scoring just at the start of second half. 

Bayern went down to 10-men again when Javi Martinez was turned to a specter, in front of Ronaldo's dazzling dribble with the ball. The Spaniard conceded two yellow within just four minutes for tugging down Ronaldo down twice to cut short Real Madrid's trademark counters. With one-man advantage Real forced Bayern to get into their defensive cocoon for the rest of the match. Ronaldo doubled the score once again in the 77th minute as he neatly tucked the ball through Neuer's legs following an inch perfect delivery from Marco Asensio. In the end Ronaldo finished by converting two of his four shorts on target, one more on target than the entire Bayern team.

Ronaldo has lost the blistering pace along the wings as he turned 32 this February but has managed to adjust his game so that  his illustrious career is prolonged maintaining the same punch. His physical prowess is on the decline and the superstar himself acknowledges the limitations of aging. His ability to rip apart defences with sheer pace and trickery is history but his ability to turn matches remains the same. He has come to terms that clinical finishing must be his forte, supplanting his knack to dribble past defenders.

Experts say that form is temporary but class is permanent. Ronaldo has proved it once again by scoring at crunch moments at the biggest stage. Ronaldo now focuses more on movement guided by guile. As Carvajal crossed to him, he devised an L-shaped run first running towards the six yard box and then checking at the last moment to hit a fierce volley past Neuer. Keeping aside his continued supremacy at opposition's defense, Ronaldo now regularly helps out defensively, often coming down deep  to regain possession. 

His European exploits are spread across 15 countries and 24 cities, including four games at neutral venues. He has the rare feat of scoring in two Champions League finals with two different teams and both times his goals came for a winning cause. 

He definitely does not command course of matches single-handedly as he used to do before, but it was Ronaldo's brilliance which stopped Bayern's winning streak of 16 Champions League matches at the Allianz Arena. 

Post match, he said "I don't know who doubts me, they must be in the minority." 

Surely, Bayern Munich isn't one of them.