Tag: Real Madrid

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said that Cristiano Ronaldo deserved to retain The Best FIFA men’s player award on Monday evening in London, speaking after another personally frustrating domestic showing for the Portuguese in Sunday evening’s 3-0 La Liga victory at home to Eibar at the Bernabeu.

Madrid eased to victory over an out of form Eibar, helped on their way by Paulo Oliveira’s 18th-minute own goal, which was soon followed by a clever Marco Asensio finish past unsighted goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic.

The second half was lower-key until late on when substitute Marcelo rounded off the scoring with a sweet low strike to finish off a superb one-touch move also involving Karim Benzema and Theo Hernandez.

Twenty-four hours before he is likely to beat Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Paris Saint-Germain’s Neymar to another individual award, Ronaldo was again not at his sharpest and missed a second-half one-on-one with Dmitrovic. But Zidane suggested in his postmatch news conference that the 32-year-old’s decisive contribution to last season’s La Liga and Champions League double was all important.

“Ronaldo is the best player of his generation, by a long way,” Zidane said. “He has shown that many times, he makes the difference in the big games.  All his prizes are deserved. He always shows he wants to be the best, and he is.”

Ronaldo is still on just one La Liga goal in 2017-18, from 33 shots, however Zidane said such statistical anomalies were not a concern.

“When Cristiano does not score I get asked always the same thing,” he said. “We are not worried, although it is better when he scores. It is important for him, but the most important is that he is getting chances. This lasts a long time. He is top scorer in the Champions League, and has a chance to score again next week in La Liga.”

Zidane himself is also shortlisted for The Best FIFA’s men’s coach award, alongside Juventus’ Massimiliano Allegri and Chelsea manager Antonio Conte. Madrid goalkeeper Keylor Navas is also favoured for recognition in the goalkeeper category, where the other nominees are Juve’s Gianluigi Buffon and Bayern Munich shot-stopper Manuel Neuer.

As if Real Madrid’s squad wasn’t overstocked with world-class talent to begin with, they actually found themselves with two Cristiano Ronaldos on the pitch at one point during Saturday’s La Liga clash with Getafe.

Indeed, a pitch invader came running onto the pitch at the Alfonso Perez and made a beeline for Ronaldo before eventually being rounded up by security and escorted back from where he came.

It turns out the opportunistic fan simply wanted to have a quick chat with his idol, while dressed exactly like him.

Well, they do say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery after all.

Zinedine Zidane was made to sweat on his landmark 100th outing as Real Madrid manager courtesy of a late 2-1 win against Getafe at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez.

Los Blancos’ seven-match winning run against their city rivals looked to be coming to an end after Jorge Molina cancelled out Karim Benzema’s first-half opener.

Cristiano Ronaldo popped up to rescue his side late on with his first league goal of the season, though, netting shortly after missing a sitter to lift his side up to second place in the La Liga table on a landmark occasion for Zidane.

The hosts struggled to really get going for large parts of the first half, seeing a couple of Ronaldo shots routinely kept out by Vicente Guaita in the Getafe goal.

Faycal Fajr had the Dark Blues’ only on-target attempt of the half, forcing a simple save out of back-up stopper Kiko Casilla – filling in for the injured Keylor Navas – while Molina headed over from a good position.

Madrid hold claim to having the best away record in the Spanish top flight this term and it was not long before they finally clicked into gear, with Benzema being thwarted with a near-post shot and Lucas Vazquez having a volley blocked aside.

The breakthrough moment then arrived 39 minutes in when Benzema intercepted the ball and charged through, knocking it past sliding defender Juan Cala and smartly tucking beyond the reach of Guaita.

Benzema, himself without a league goal in three outings this term, also skied a shot over the bar as Los Blancos went into the break sitting a goal to the good.

The second half panned out in a similar manner, as Zidane’s men bossed possession but struggled to do a great deal with it and were almost made to pay.

Shortly after Guaita pulled off a double save to deny Ronaldo and a half-fit Marcelo, Molina picked out the net at the other end of the field when reacting quickest to get the faintest of touches to a right-sided cross.

Marcos Llorente got a touch to help the ball into the centre-forward’s path, making it five goals in eight outings for him against the defending champions.

Ronaldo, with 20 previous career goals against Getafe, got on the end of Isco’s cross and rifled superbly past Guaita on this occasion to save his side with five minutes left to play.

Cristiano Ronaldo isn’t recognised for his generosity on the pitch but the Real Madrid star makes up for it in his charity work after selling off a prized Ballon d’Or trophy to raise £600,000.

The Real Madrid star donated a replica of his 2013 award to a London auction at the Dorchester Hotel last weekend.

The funds will go towards the Make-A-Wish Foundation, a charity that grants wishes for children with life-threatening illnesses and those who are terminally ill.

The event raised £2.7m for the Foundation – nearly doubling the original fundraising target of £1.5m.

Ronaldo is a long-term supporter of Make-A-Wish, donating funds and granting wishes to seriously ill children across the world, and specifically asked for the replica of his 2013 award to be donated to auction raising funds for the UK charity.

The Ballon d’Or trophy is recognised as one of the highest personal accolades a player can receive in the game. Under a FIFA banner between 2010 and 2015 it was also the official world player of the year award.

Ronaldo’s 2013 triumph came following a four-year winning streak by on-pitch rival rival Lionel Messi.

The Portugal international has won the award four times in all, having also collected the accolade in 2008, 2014 and 2016.

Ronaldo has been gearing up with Portugal ahead of two crucial World Cup qualifiers, where his side take on Andorra on Saturday before facing Group B leaders Switzerland in their final game next week.

The European champions need two wins to be certain of finishing top of their group and secure a spot in Russia next summer.

Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has been busy showing off the latest addition of his glittering car collection.

The Portugal star shared a video of himself taking his son for a spin in a new Bugatti Chiron.

Ronaldo is rightly in a celebratory mood after his side’s impressive 3-1 win over Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.

It appears a brand new supercar is what you buy a man who already seems to have everything.

Ronaldo looked very pleased with himself as he drove his new toy out of an underground garage with Cristiano Jr in the passenger seat.

Writing on Instagram, Ronaldo said: ‘New animal in the building Bugatti Chiron.’

The car, which is worth an estimated £1.85million, even had personalised ‘CR7’ headrests. It seems no expense was spared.

Ronaldo returned to goal scoring form for Real Madrid in their midweek Champions League tie against Borussia Dortmund.

The 32-year-old scored twice for Zinedine Zidane’s side as they lay down an impressive statement of intent in the competition.

The Spanish side have now won both their group matches this season and look likely to battle Tottenham for the top spot.

Meanwhile Manchester United fans were treated to a brief reminder of their former glory days as Rio Ferdinand caught up with his former team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo.

The pair spent six seasons together at Old Trafford, winning three Premier League titles and the Champions League before Ronaldo made his way to Real Madrid in 2009.

Long since retired and now working in the media industry, Ferdinand was given the chance to interview the Portuguese and posted a photo of the pair on his Instagram account.

In the caption, he wrote: ‘Always good to see my man @cristiano & pleasure to interview him on his new Chapter 5: Cut to Brilliance boot!!!! Thanks to @nike for making it happen.’

Ferdinand had teased his followers with a picture earlier in the day, asking fans to guess who his latest interviewee was just from the back of their head. Unsurprisingly, many were quick to guess correctly.

Although the subject of the interview appears to be under wraps, Ferdinand’s hint at a new ‘chapter’ suggests his new children, twins Mateo and Eva Maria Dos Santos, may have something to do with it.

The two children arrived in Ronaldo’s life in July after being born to a surrogate in California. The 32-year-old is also expecting a girl with partner Georgina Rodriguez to take his total offspring up to four with Cristiano Ronaldo Jnr the eldest.

Ferdinand, who works with BT Sport as one of their top pundits, may have been working for the broadcaster ahead Real Madrid’s much-anticipated Champions League clash with Tottenham on October 17.