Winning ugly is still winning: Why be a beautiful loser?

Everybody loves a winner.

Even more so, a pretty one.

Like Federer, like Brazil in the 50s and 60s.

Sometimes, winning is everything.

So when the purists crib that Portugal were unaesthetic in the triumph at the European Cup this year, let’s put their comments in the right perspective.

It is Portugal’s name that will be inscribed on the trophy and history will record them as victors.

Will it matter , in a few years, how they emerged kings despite winning just one game in normal time? Will it matter that they barely made the pre-quarters, drawing all their three group Games?

It will not and Cristiano Ronaldo knows and recognises this better than anyone else.

Hobbling on the sidelines in the final, the man from Madeira cheered and spurred his teammates on inspiring them to the podium in his absence.

In the process, he went one better than his rival and the best player on the planet, Lionel Messi.

Messi may be beautiful, he may be sublime, but he has still to win a title for his native Argentina.

Ronaldo has his measure there.

Unlike tennis, badminton or squash, soccer is a team sport.

And one man does not a team make.

Winning need not be elegant, it need not be pleasing to the eye or the spectators.

Sometimes, it’s simply about getting the job done, doing what’s needed when it’s required.

Yes, we love to see our winners be gorgeous, heavenly and glorious.

But for every Federer, there’s a Nadal.

And for every Spain, there’s a Denmark, a Greece and now a Portugal.