Real Madrid’s La Liga hopes are fading fast, and Cristiano Ronaldo is unhappy. Following a 1-0 loss to rival Atletico Madrid that dropped Real Madrid 12 points behind Barcelona andfour points behind second-place Atletico Madrid, Ronaldo said the problem was that all of his teammates weren’t up to his level.
Because of injuries, Real Madrid was without fellow starsKarim Benzema and Gareth Bale.
“We’re missing Karim, Pepe, Marcelo, Bale and it’s difficult,” Ronaldo said. “The others whoplayed are not as good. Any team needs its best players. I’m not saying Danilo, Jese, Lucas [Vazquez] and [Mateo] Kovacic are not good, but those who are missing arevery good.”
Those remarks did not go over well at Real Madrid, where Zinedine Zidane took over as head coach this winter, and Ronaldo apologized.
“I wasreferring to the physical level, not level of play,” he told Marca. “I am not better than any of my teammates.”
Zidane tried to put the controversy behind the club.
“Cristiano has spoken to everyone, with me and all,” he said. “The matter is past. We know the importance of Cristiano and we’re all with him. What’s important is what we have aheadof us and we’ll get through it together.”
Ronaldo had a point, though. Bale just returned to full training after being out six weeks with a calf injury. Benzema went off athalftime of the Atletico game with right leg muscle injury and will be for a month.
Real Madrid appears to be paying the price for its poor physical conditioning. Madrid papers reportedthat when he inherited the job from Rafa Benitez, Zidane was shocked at the fitness levels of key players — German Toni Kroos and Colombian James Rodriguez — and that was beforethe injuries to Bale and Benzema.
If certain players are not at peak physical shape, than the trainers are delinquent in their duties. CR7 ranted in public and that is out of line.
Wow, so el “pequeno principe” thinks and feels that his other team mates aren’t “as good???” You just watch, someone, sometime soon, is going to come along, give him a good swift where the sun don’t shine and then ask him it it was good enough… Vete y toma tu lechesita, nino principe mimado.
oooops. that was “…give him a good swift kick…”