Cristiano Ronaldo‘s play has fallen off a bit since Real Madrid named Rafael Benitez as their new manager, and the belief that Ronaldo is ready to take his talents elsewhere has only magnified. One of the club’s greats, Jorge Valdano, seems to know the reason things have changed so dramatically for the team’s scoring machine.
“Ronaldo would prefer to be playing out on the left like he’s always done,” Valdano told Cadena SER, according to Sport-English.
“It’s hard to know if it’s because he’s not scoring, or his position, but he’s not enjoying playing at the moment. He’s playing under protest.”
While Ronaldo has tallied an impressive 13 goals in 16 matches for Real Madrid this season, five of those goals came against Espanyol – while his eight goals in the other 15 matches. It’s a far cry from what the club is used to seeing out of their all-time leading scorer.
Valdano managed Real Madrid from 1994 to 1996, capturing the Liga BBVA title in the 1994-95 season.
Real Madrid will return to Bernabeu from the international break on November 21 for their first match of the season against bitter rival Barcelona, who own a three-point lead on the Liga BBVA table and are cruising in the Champions League group stage – even in the absence of injured megastar Lionel Messi.
Ronaldo has been linked with transfer moves to the biggest clubs in Europe since the summer, including Paris Saint-Germain and of course Manchester United. Such a move would likely break the transfer record yet again even with Ronaldo playing at less-than-perfect form though.
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