Former Real Madrid coach Rafael Benitez has insisted that he is certain Cristiano Ronaldo was happy with his training methods at the Bernabeu.
The Spanish coach had a brief and troubled spell with Los Merengues after replacing Carlo Ancelotti during the summer, and was replaced by club legend Zinedine Zidane after only six months in charge.
Speaking to BT Sport [quotes via Goal] ahead of Real’s Champions League clash at AS Roma on Tuesday evening, Benitez responded to the suggestion that star man Ronaldo was unhappy with his methods and his training sessions during their brief mutual time together in the Spanish capital.
“No, I think that [Ronaldo] was quite happy with the way that we were training because we were training with the ball,” the former Liverpool coach began.
“So for players, and we have top-class players here, they like and enjoy training with the ball,” he continued. “[Ronaldo] is a winner, he’s very competitive, he wants to win and he wants to score goals, so that is the positive side. I think it’s fine.”
Benitez is currently out of work having yet to find a new club since being dismissed by Real. He coached Liverpool to the Champion League title, took Valencia to the Liga BBVA crown and had a mixed stay at Inter Milan and a more positive stint at Napoli.
Since replacing Benitez, Zidane has enjoyed an impressive start to his managerial career; the club legend has won five of his six league games, scoring 20 in four games against Deportivo La Coruna, Sporting Gijon, Espanyol and Athletic Club.
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