CAN RONALDO REALLY LAST UNTIL 41? DON'T WRITE OFF CRISTIANO PLAYING FOR MANY MORE YEARS

The Portuguese has signed a new contract with Real Madrid that links him to the club until 2021 and says he wants to play until he is 41 - but is that really realistic?

Last January, many were quick to claim Cristiano Ronaldo was on his last legs. Some speculated that he would not be back on the podium at the Ballon d'Or; that his poor form for Real Madrid signalled the start of a dramatic decline. How wrong they were.

Since then, the Portuguese has won the Champions League for a second time with Los Blancos, been crowned a continental champion with his national team at Euro 2016 and picked up a string of individual awards, including this year's Goal 50. He is also the red-hot favourite to collect what would be a fourth Ballon d'Or later this year.

Ronaldo has always savoured proving his haters wrong. "Your love makes me strong," he once said. "Your hate makes me unstoppable." It is an attitude he has had since a young age - and he excels when he is told he cannot do something. It drives him to new heights.

The Portuguese put pen to paper on a new contract at Madrid last Monday and, when asked what had been the most special moment in his spectacular seven-season spell in Spain, he said: "Right now. Winning the Champions League, the Euros with Portugal and signing a new contract - this is the best moment for me." And no doubt it will have been even sweeter because those three things were thought, by many, to have been impossible. But not for Cristiano - the word is not in his vocabulary.

Yet doubts were raised again after the signing ceremony at the Santiago Bernabeu. Many high-profile journalists were quick to claim on social media that there is no way Ronaldo will honour his new deal. In two or three years, he will be gone, some said. But how can they be so sure?

Ronaldo himself has often stated that he wants to play until he is 40. Now 31, the former Manchester United winger has no interest in a coaching career, claiming that he will focus on his brands after retirement, and that means he is keen to extend his playing days for as long as possible.

"This is not my last contract [at Real Madrid]," he said at the event on Monday. "It's the penultimate one. I want to play until I am 41. I want to keep improving and keep learning."