In a week when Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo suggested he wanted seven children and seven Ballon d’Or’s, perhaps the Portuguese should’ve been more focused on trying to get to within seven points of Barcelona at the top of La Liga table.
He’s only scored seven goals in all competitions and, domestically, Fifa’s ‘The Best’ winner has actually rippled the net on just one occasion so far, away at Getafe over a month ago.
For a player that loves to tell the world how great he is, it’s a pitiful return.
Make no bones about it, Ronaldo is struggling. Big time. When Real have needed their main man to step up, he’s nowhere to be seen.
Take the 88th minute at the Wanda Metropolitano in the Madrid derby. With just Jan Oblak to beat and in acres of room, his dilly-dallying allowed Atleti to get defenders back and the chance to win the game was gone.
Too busy honing his step-overs and leaking stories to the press that he’s unhappy in Madrid — again — it’s about time he got back to the business of leading his team’s attack and proving that he’s a worthy winner of the game’s biggest individual prizes.
The penchant for wanting to be centre-stage at all times is all well and good when you’re providing a service that befits such standing. But the headline writers will have a field day when a player is clearly not fit for purpose, as now.
Indeed, he’s taken 53 shots so far in La Liga, scoring once, which means his conversion rate is 1.8% — the worst in Europe’s top five leagues.
Ronaldo is extremely fortunate that Zinedine Zidane isn’t known for dispensing with his big names, despite lack of form. Karim Benzema benefits from much the same courtesy.
However, if the status quo should continue, the whispers from the Santiago Bernabeu terraces will become a cacophony that the French coach can’t ignore.
No one is exempt from criticism and with the likes of Marco Asensio waiting patiently in the wings, one can’t make the argument that the Portuguese is only in the side because of a lack of backup options.
Bottom-placed Malaga are next up for Los Blancos and the fixture represents the perfect chance for Ronaldo to make amends.
Los Boquerones are letting in two goals per game on average, and scoring just once every two matches. The biggest surprise of week 13 will be if they’re able to offer any sort of resistance against Zidane’s side.
If Portugal’s finest can’t find the net in that game, with the greatest of respect to Malaga, then, frankly, Madrid will be better off granting him his wish to move to pastures new.
— The author is an expert on Spanish football
