Van Persie At Risk Of Doing A Ronaldo?

Robin van Persie has had a wildly successful season for Arsenal, and despite having scored 36 goals for the Gunners over the past season, the striker was unable to repeat his top performances for Holland last night as they went down 1-0 to Denmark.

Expected to win the match and be favourites to proceed through the group with Germany, the Dutch now need to win their final two games, and in particular against the Germans, if they have hopes of proceeding to the next stage.

Meanwhile, Portugal are in the same boat, and although the side weren't seen as a sure thing to go through like Holland, they have been tipped by many to cause would could be considered an upset in the Group of Death.

While Portugal and the Netherlands boast very different line-ups, with Holland arguably holding a much better side around their prolific goalscorer, van Persie risks going down the same road his counterpart Cristiano Ronaldo, who is yet to shine in a major tournament for his country.

If fans thought that van Persie's performances for Arsenal were second do none this season, Ronaldo would be more like the Dutchman on crack.

The former Manchester United star took his side to beat the world's best in Barcelona for the La Liga title, and across the board for Real Madrid and Portugal, he scored 63 goals over the course of last season.

In his last nine matches for Real Madrid alone he scored 11 goals, including two against Bayern Munich, who make up a large amount of the Germany line-up.

But when it comes to playing for his country and the pressure is on to perform, Ronaldo just hasn't clicked yet, taking many pundits to the view that he still hasn't proven he's better than the likes of Maradona and Pele, who were both superstars for their club and country.

Van Persie, meanwhile, is having the first of many prolific seasons yet to come for his club. Arsenal are desperate to keep hold of him for the long term, but with his contract running out at the end of next season, Manchester City are said to be chasing hard with an offer.

Should van Persie have a disappointing tournament, his confidence for the national team will be affected. And having to compete with the likes of Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, who scored 12 goals in the qualifying stages for Holland, the 28 year old must step up to avoid creating a history of international performances that take a similar frame to Ronaldo.

Ronaldo has working in his favour the fact that he is above and beyond his Portuguese teammates by a long shot, but van Persie doesn't have such a luxury. And if he hopes to show he's truly one of Arsenal's and the Premier League's best creations (he has been there for nearly 10 years now), then now is the time to step up.