Does Real Madrid miss Cristiano Ronaldo’s presence? At this point, that question is just rhetorical. The right question would be to ask what his absence means for the club.
In the nine seasons Cristiano Ronaldo played for Real Madrid, he scored 450 goals from 435 games — becoming the club’s record scorer in the process. His move to Spain from England started a rivalry the footballing world has loved to debate on. He helped the club to two La Liga titles and four Champions League trophies, apart from 10 other cup victories.
Does Real Madrid miss his presence? At this point, that question is just rhetorical. The right question would be to ask what his absence means for the club.
It was a summer of change at Real Madrid in 2018. Ronaldo was sold to Juventus not long after Zinedine Zidane took everyone by surprise by announcing his resignation. Julen Lopetegui succeeded the Frenchman but there were signs of ‘doom’ right from the start.
Lopetegui’s first La Liga game (against Getafe) saw just 48,866 fans come to the Santiago Bernabeu — its lowest figure in a decade. This record was broken again in January when only 44,000 turned up to watch the Copa del Rey tie against Leganes.
There are a host of other dismal records that were set since Ronaldo’s sale, but the following two highlight his absence the best: the team failed to score for the first time in 29 Champions League matches and for the first time in 11 years it has gone goalless in three consecutive matches in all competitions.
The Spaniard has since been sacked, and Santiago Solari was hired and fired before Zidane returned to the club. But problems persist, on and off the pitch, and most can be linked to the departure of the Portuguese forward.
Of shirt sales, finances and the social media game
This story is from the April 20, 2019 edition of Sportstar.
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This story is from the April 20, 2019 edition of Sportstar.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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