Cristiano Ronaldo and the Long Walk

Soccer’s biggest stars used to have places to wind down their careers with dignity. The sport’s economics now require their humiliations be public.

Credit...Ian Hodgson/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesMANCHESTER, England — Manchester United’s starting team appeared first, walking out at Old Trafford shoulder-to-shoulder with its opponent for the evening, Tottenham Hotspur. Then came the substitutes, clutching fluorescent training bibs and bottles of water, followed by two small armies of coaches, assistant coaches and assistants to the coaches.

Only then, once the players had lined up, the replacements had taken their seats and the respective coaching staffs had claimed their territory,…