The slow decline of a footballer is something that can make a lot of football fans feel extremely old. For many, the fact Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo no longer play in Europe and rule the Champions League is hard to comprehend.
Being a couple of years older, Ronaldo is the one hitting more milestones associated with the slow decline of a career in football. The lack of a nomination for the 2023 Ballon d’Or – the first time he has been omitted since 2003 – was one, but now he has reached another.
Not all supporters place value in video game ratings but EA Sports FC 24’s raft of scores for footballers worldwide have revealed plenty about how certain players are viewed in the modern game.
The new figures certainly don’t make for great reading if you’re a Ronaldo fan.
For context, there are many players who would dream of having Ronaldo’s rating in EA Sports FC 24. Those on Career Mode and Ultimate Team could still do much worse than having Ronaldo’s rating, which has dropped to 86 in the new game.
That is a four-point downgrade from the previous iteration of the game, FIFA 23.
Just like with the Ballon d’Or, it seems there are plenty of consequences from the move to Al Nassr in the Saudi Pro League. Ronaldo has still been scoring frequently since his Manchester United exit and subsequent move to the Middle East at the start of 2023, so it seems his rating has dropped largely down to the league he is scoring goals in.
That being said, Karim Benzema and Neymar are in the same league and have ratings of 90 and 89 respectively, so something about Ronaldo’s play has led the game creators to chip away at his rating more severely.
This is the lowest rating Ronaldo has had in EA’s football game since the 2007 edition, a whopping 16 years ago.
In that game, the likes of Wayne Rooney, Gianluigi Buffon and Ronaldinho were the highest-ranked players, but Ronaldo was still on the up at Manchester United. He was given an overall score of 87 in that game.
The Portuguese forward had always sat above 87 since 2007, but now he has dipped under to 86.
In terms of other Saudi Pro League stars, Riyad Mahrez matches Ronaldo with a rating of 86, as do N’Golo Kante, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Sadio Mane.