RONALDO ‘WILL LEAVE MADRID’

CRISTIANO RONALDO will play his last home league Clasico on Saturday — with his slow divorce from Real Madrid coming to an inevitable conclusion next May. That’s the opinion of sources close to the Spanish club he joined in 2009 — and it’s a theory backed up by the fact that Real Madrid snubbed the London film Premiere of the player’s film The Man last Monday. Ronaldo goes into the game against rivals Barcelona on Saturday having failed to score in 12 of the 18 games he has played for club and country this season but the seeds of separation are due to his relationship with the club, rather than his form. They are rooted in Real Madrid’s desire to cash-in on a player who will be 31 by the end of the season but would still command a huge transfer fee. The first cracks appeared at the end of last season when the player publicly called the club out for the sacking of Carlo Ancelotti. Ronaldo tweeted: ‘Great coach and amazing person. Hope we work together next season’, along with a photograph of himself and Ancelotti before the sacking was confirmed. Players and staff at the club already knew that Ancelotti would not be kept on and the Tweet was viewed as a clear act of dissent as the board prepared to hire Rafa Benitez as manager. But Ronaldo and Benitez have endured a difficult relationship and it is now understood that Madrid will cash in on their prized asset next summer.