Zidane hails Ronaldo after his perfect week
madrid — Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said people write off Cristiano Ronaldo at their peril after the Portuguese forward struck twice in the 5-0 drubbing of Sevilla on Saturday as the La Liga champions and their prolific scorer roared back to life.
Ronaldo has been widely criticised in Spain for his domestic form this season and before the game with Sevilla he had only scored twice in the league, his lacklustre form mirroring Real’s feeble defence of the title they won so convincingly last May.
Ronaldo was crowned world player of the year for a jointrecord fifth time on Thursday and showed off his shiny Ballon d’Or trophy on the Bernabeu pitch before kick off and when the game began he appeared to have an extra spring in his step.
He latched onto a through ball from Marco Asensio to confidently sidefoot the ball inside the near corner to score Real’s second goal midway through the first half and then powered home the third from the penalty spot, his shot bouncing under Sevilla goalkeeper Sergio Rico.
“It has been a perfect week for him and I hope he continues at this pace, although I already said you have to be careful with him,” Zidane told a news conference.
Ronaldo also scored in Real’s 3-2 victory over Germany’s Borussia Dortmund.
“I don’t say that for no reason, I know him well and I see how ambitious he is every day in training, he knows he’s going to score. Sometimes it doesn’t come off for him and no-one is happy about that, but you always have to be careful with him.” —