Row Z: Ronaldo’s big questions, why Liverpool lost at City and Big Dan Ballard for England? – The Athletic

Welcome to Row Z, The Athletic’s weekly column that shines a light on the bonkers side of the game.

From clubs to managers, players to organisations, we’ll bring you the absurdities, the greed, the contradictions, the preposterousness and the oddities of the sport we all love…

Don’t worry, folks, Row Z has watched Cristiano Ronaldo’s latest interview with Piers Morgan, so you don’t have to.

It is labelled as Ronaldo’s most personal interview yet, and we can absolutely confirm that’s the case, with questions such as, “Do you think you’re better looking than David Beckham?”

The answer, obviously, is “yes”. Then there’s a genuine debate about who the most famous person in the world is, with the contenders being Ronaldo and U.S. President Donald Trump (the answer, obviously, being Ronaldo: “Nobody is more famous than me”).

It’s an interview clearly designed to show a new side to Ronaldo, one of humility, modesty and deep introspection.

During a seven-minute discussion on how rich Ronaldo is, Morgan asks him how many cars he owns. “I don’t know, I don’t count. I don’t want to be humble; it’s a fact. I don’t know, I swear on my kids.”

Then, when gently pushed for a rough number, the man who has absolutely no idea how many cars he owns, replies: “Forty-one.”

Morgan then informs Ronaldo that his former Manchester United team-mate Wayne Rooney recently said Lionel Messi is the better player. Ronaldo takes it really well, saying the following words.

“No problem.”

“No problem.

“I’m not mad with that.

“It’s OK.

“It’s OK.

“For me, it’s not a problem.”

It’s definitely fine.

Then, after claiming that it’s harder to score in the Saudi Pro League than it is in La Liga and saying the European Golden Boot should include the Saudi league, Ronaldo is asked if he wants to win the World Cup with Portugal next year. The World Cup being the greatest football competition on Earth and basically the only thing he hasn’t won in his incredible career.

“No, it’s not a dream,” says Ronaldo, who speaks in the third person on six occasions across the interview. “To win the World Cup will not change my name in the history of football.”

Blimey, interesting take, and a very different slant from his last interview with Morgan in 2022, on the eve of the Qatar-hosted edition of that tournament, when he literally said he dreamed about lifting the trophy.

What’s changed since then? Any ideas? Nothing to do with Messi having won it with Argentina at that 2022 World Cup, right? Because then it could be perceived as Messi having had the better career? Nope, definitely not. “Didn’t wanna win it anyway… next!”

Following the interview, Morgan hosted a live reaction show on YouTube with a panel of guests that included Richard Keys, Fabrizio Romano, Guillem Balague and Mark Goldbridge. Row Z offers absolutely no comment on those people whatsoever.

Keys summed up the whole shebang best of all with his Ronaldo take: “I thought he was self-effacing.”

Liverpool were comprehensively beaten by Manchester City at the Etihad on Sunday. What went so badly wrong for Arne Slot’s side in their humbling 3-0 defeat? Atrocious defending? Players out of form?

Well, no, they lost because Pep Guardiola didn’t email Slot before the match to tell him what his tactics were going to be. Come on, Pep, play the game, pal!

Slot’s concerns with how the opposition approach matches against Liverpool (he was unhappy with Manchester United’s low block and long balls and the fact they changed their XI and has repeatedly stated that his team struggle against a “certain style”) continued in his pre-City press conference.

‘So, why didn’t you tell me your team changes, Pep?’ (Michael Regan/Getty Images)

“It wasn’t a surprise for me how the last two games went,” he said, talking of victories against Aston Villa and Real Madrid. “It was helpful for us that the other team did what we expected them to do.

“In eight out of the 10 games we’ve played this season, we’ve faced a different playing style than all the games these teams played before. But Villa and Madrid did what we expected.”

To be fair, it is seriously annoying when teams have the nerve to change their XI or tactics from their previous match. Something should be done about it.

For the City match, Guardiola made not one, not two, but three changes from the side that had beaten Borussia Dortmund in midweek. Row Z has yet to confirm if Liverpool have made an official complaint to the authorities.

Keep fighting the good fight, Arne!

Rob Edwards, a season in words and actions.

July 31: “It’s a huge football club, this. It’s a proper football club. I’m so lucky. When I get into my office at the training ground, I think, ‘Wow’.

“And then I look at the stadium and I think, ‘I am so privileged and so lucky to be here’. I was just desperate to try to land this job, and I feel the luckiest man in the world right now to be representing Middlesbrough Football Club.”

September 11: “I know in other people’s eyes there might be so-called ‘bigger clubs’, but this is a wonderful football club. I want us to show real pride in representing it.”

September 14: “We’re a family and if we’re going to achieve something, if we’re going to progress and move forward, then us, the staff, the players and the fans, all of us, we’ve got to be together.”

November 11: Finds a new family.

Now, perhaps it’s unfair to point this one out, because Row Z has made a few mistakes in our time, but honestly, this is just too much of a corker to ignore.

It’s Sunday morning on UK radio station talkSPORT, and the subject under discussion are Sunderland, whose ex-player and expert on all things Wearside, Micky Gray, is on the show to wax lyrical about the club after their 2-2 draw with Arsenal on Saturday evening.

The subject of their meaty centre-back Dan Ballard comes up and, well… here’s Gray: “This is a late shout, and it might be going a little bit over the top but, we haven’t got too many centre-halves in our country… has he left it too late? Because I think his performances deserve an England call-up.”

It’s a great idea. The only issue is that Ballard has played 32 times for Northern Ireland over the past five years.

Dan Ballard, not English (Michael Steele/Getty Images)

Gray went rattling again in his social media apology, referring to England-born and, yes, it’s worth repeating, Northern Ireland international Ballard as Irish, a missive that former MP and ex-minister of sport Kate Hoey, of all people, was affronted by.

He is from Northern Ireland – part of the United Kingdom !

— Kate Hoey (@CatharineHoey) November 9, 2025

Just your average Sunday on the internet.

Don’t worry, Micky. We’ve all been there.