Why do we turn on our stars?

South American champions Chile defeated them in a penalty shoot, thanks to the heroics of Claudio Bravo. Yes, the same Premier League flop saved his nation.

As soon as it was evident that Portugal had lost, the mob turned on the world's best player Cristiano Ronaldo. The flashy Portuguese goal machine was blamed for not taking the first penalty. He was blasted for wanting to take the fifth and final penalty because he wanted to show off for TV.

With the criticism thrown at him yesterday, you would have never guessed that less than two months ago CR7 was the golden boy of the world.

On a fateful night in Cardiff, Ronaldo scored two goals in the Champions League final which sank Juventus. No one had a bad word to say about Ronaldo that night. He was invincible. A month and a few weeks later, he is now the bad guy.

"First they love me, then they hate me, then they love me again" once rapped Jay-Z. This can be said of Cristiano Ronaldo and every celebrity or star in the world right now.

People love to tear down stars or people who excel in their fields. The twisted thing about this is, we supported these people when they were up-and-coming. Once they get to that level of fame and success that most mortals can't reach, the love turns to hate.

Before CR7 became the darling of the world after the Champions League, he had his legion of haters. They said he was too arrogant, flashy and selfish.

"I think that because I am rich, handsome and a great player people are envious of me. I don't have any other explanation" once said Ororo after he was asked by a journalist why he was booed during a match. His statement is eerily similar to Jay Z's rhetorical question on '99 Problems'. "‘Cause I'm young and I'm black and my hat's real low? Do I look like a mind reader, sir? I don't know."

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The human mind can only stomach another person's success for so long. We cheer them when they are on their way to the top but once they achieve greatness, we suddenly realise that they have done what most of us are afraid to do, be great.

While some are motivated by the greatness of others, some hate it because it reminds them of how mediocre their lives are. Two people look at Wizkid's exploits over the recent years. One of them will undoubtedly be inspired by what Wizzy has been able to do while the other would sneer and be like "Wizkid has never met before."

Most of us belong to the latter. Once someone gets too successful we begin to throw stones. Drake was a dope rapper, then he became a culture vulture. Olamide gave indigenous rap credibility only for critics to switch and say he is not a rapper because of his outstanding pop success.

We switch the narratives from good to bad to suit our own shortcomings. We want our stars to flop so bad because we want to be comforted by the idea that they too can mess up and be like us.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work this way. The hate most stars receive only fuels them to higher levels of greatness. It is alright to genuinely criticise a celebrity once he messes up. That's okay. But shameful trolling and bashing just to make you okay with your level of mediocrity is bad.

No amount of trolling will stop stars from being legends.