Cristiano Ronaldo will play in Madrid derby

A duel against Atletico is always special. Cristiano Ronaldo has been wearing the Real Madrid shirt long enough to know that the derby is not just another match.

Therefore, he has decided to play from the beginning against 'Cholo' Simeone's team, a decision, as always, agreed with Zinedine Zidane, and designed to ensure that the Portuguese remains in tip top condition in the final thrust of the campaign.

Ronaldo's spectacular double against Juventus in the first leg of the Champions League has done nothing but recharge his batteries.

Apart from the magnitude of his numbers in the Champions League (119 goals, 14 in the current edition), his streak also extends to LaLiga. He has scored in eight of the last nine games he has played in the domestic competition. A little over a month ago, against Levante, was the last time he failed to hit the back of the net.

Madrid didn't win that game, but the eight in which Ronaldo has scored since has seem him accumulate 18 goals. It has relaunched the race for the Pichichi, with the Portuguese currently second and tied with Luis Suarez on 22.

Lionel Messi remains the top marksman with 26, but with Ronaldo so potent at this stage of the season and with eight games left, he's in a position to hunt down the Barcelona star.

Objective Atletico

For now, he will train his aim on Atletico, the team against whom he has scored the third most after Sevilla (27 goals) and Getafe (23).

In total, Ronaldo has found the net against the Rojiblancos on 21 occasions: 11 in the League, six in the Copa del Rey and four in the Champions League.

Undoubtedly, the most recent precedent to which Real Madrid cling is the first leg of the 2016/17 Champions League semifinals, also played at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.

There, he scored all three goals that allowed Los Blancos to register an insurmountable 3-0 first leg lead, before the last derby played at the Estadio Vicente Calderon (2-1) in the second leg.

One more of those exhibitions from striker will be decisive, and that's why, this Sunday in the derby, there's no need to rest.

Cristiano Ronaldo won't miss it.

Comments

Zidane: “We will not give Barcelona a guard of honour”

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane revealed that his team will not give Barcelona a traditional guard of honour if the two teams meet right after Barcelona become La Liga Champions. “We will not give a guard of honour, this is my decision,” said Zidane when asked about the matter. “Barcelona didn’t follow the tradition when we won the Club World Cup. This is my decision,” he added. Zidane is clearly stating that this is not something decided by the club in order to protect Real Madrid from potential criticism. Barcelona gave Real Madrid a guard of honour back in 2008 but they said that they would not do the same thing this past winter when Madrid conquered the Club World Cup. Nobody knows whether Los Blancos will finally face Barcelona under the circumstances which could make Madrid give said guard of honour, but it’s now clear that Zidane and his men will not hear anything about it.

Luka Modric, His Mentor and the Perjury Case That Has Divided Croatia

This is the story of two men. One of them is Luka Modric. His name is known all over the world as Real Madrid 's midfield lynchpin, orchestrator of the side that has won three of the last four UEFA Champions League titles and is gunning to retain its crown this season. The other man is a mentor to him. His name is Zdravko Mamic, the most powerful man in Croatian football. Part of the story involves a transfer between Modric's former teams—Dinamo Zagreb, the most successful club in Croatian history, and Tottenham Hotspur , one of England's grandest outfits—and a court case that has captivated Croatia. The transfer, for a fee reported by Marca to be €21 million, happened in 2008, four years before Modric was bought by Real Madrid. The transfer saga is a sticking point in a legal case brought against Mamic, a former director of Dinamo Zagreb and ex-vice president of the Croatian Football Federation. Mamic was arrested in July 2015. He is accused of corruption a...

Search This Blog