Cristiano Ronaldo surges after Madrid Derby

When the last derby between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid ended 1-0 to Atleti in February, Cristiano Ronaldo delivered a shocking post-match assessment, stating that Real "could be leading the table if everyone played at my level."

Those controversial quotes were have come to life, as Los Blancos went on to achieve seven consecutive La Liga wins, and are now fighting for a title which was seemingly lost with Barcelona being 10 points ahead.
Cristiano Ronaldo has been the leader behind that improvement, having scored 10 goals in the last five home matches played at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.
The Portuguese attacker managed to hit the back of the net four times against Celta Vigo, one against Roma, Sevilla and Eibar and those very good numbers were completed when Ronaldo scored a hat-trick against Wolfsburg, clinching a spot in the Champions League semi-finals for his club.
Ronaldo is La Liga's leading scorer with 31 goals this season, five more than Barcelona's Luis Suarez, and has also scored 16 goals in the Champions League - just two goals away from breaking his own record for goals scored in the European competition.
Ronaldo will be back in the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday night, hoping to gain some more momentum for the crucial matches that Madrid will play in the upcoming weeks.

Read More

Cristiano Ronaldo to renew with Real Madrid until 2020

Cristiano Ronaldo is negotiating a new contract with Real Madrid, according to Spanish newspaper El Confidencial. In spite of the rumours that the Portuguese superstar might be leaving this summer, the relationship between the player and the club is said to have strengthened in the past weeks, with the improvement from both the side and the player himself, leading to the the two parties beginning talks over a possible renewal. Ronaldo is currently under contract until 2018.

According to the article, signed by Antonio Sanz, Real Madrid bosses want the player to finish his professional career at the club, and are keen to offer him a two year extension to his contract, to take it to 2020, when Cristiano would be 35. The player is said to be happy to consider a deal to 2021.

The remuneration figures being discussed are said to be “astronomical”. According to El Confidencial the club are keen to finalise the new deal and make it public before the end of the season, to put an end to any rumours of Ronaldo’s departure.“Florentino has no option but to renew or sell. That’s why he feels that keeping CR7 is still, as of now, the best plan”, says the article.

Read More

Cristiano Ronaldo 'to retire a Real Madrid player' as Portuguese reportedly discusses 2020 contract extension

Cristiano Ronaldo is in talks over a new contract at Real Madrid that would see him end his career at the Bernabeu, according to reports in Spain.

The flurry of stories today would appear to be a reaction to France Football's claims on Tuesday that the 31-year-old had met with Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser El-Khelaifi over a summer move less than 24 hours after Madrid's epic comeback against Wolfsburg in the Champions League, when handed a day off from training by the club.

Such timing, in particular, smarts for the Madrid public, as does hearing the excruciating details from the French publication - including the fact that the Hotel Bourget meeting last week was the fifth such rendez-vous between the two parties.

In the autumn, with PSG's growing interest and the player enjoying a tense relationship with Rafa Benitez, it seemed inevitable that Ronaldo would leave the Bernabeu this summer - resulting in Perez confronting Ronaldo over his media comments on PSG.

But FIFA's transfer ban and the Portuguese's upturn in form have made it suddenly far more difficult to justify his sale.

Senior figures at Madrid know, however, that this off-season is likely to be the final time they can recoup any of his value in the shape of a significant transfer fee.

El Confidencial , the home of one of this afternoon's reports, claim that Florentino Perez considers there to be only two options - renew or sell - because of Ronaldo's contract ticking over into its final two years this June.

The newspaper suggests a further two-year extension is likely, possibly even until 2021, while radio station Cadena COPE reported that the 31-year-old would retire a Madrid player.

Read More

Cristiano Ronaldo named Champions League Player of the Week

The Portuguese forward received the highest number of votes from the uefa.com users on the back of his excellent performance against Wolfsburg.

Cristiano Ronaldo has claimed the Champions League Player of the Week award for the sixth time. The Portuguese forward, who netted a tremendous hat-trick against Wolfsburg, has once again been recognised by the uefa.com users. Ronaldo received 74% of the vote, which placed him ahead of Antoine Griezmann and Arturo Vidal (who both registered 10% of the vote). With 16 goals to his name, the Whites' forward is the top marksman in this season's Champions League and now is just one goal away from matching his best goals return in the competition.

Read More

Actress reveals disappointing first date with Cristiano Ronaldo

HE may be a sporting hero, but it seems Cristiano Ronaldo could do with a few lessons in the love department.

British actress and glamour model Gemma Atkinson dated the Real Madrid star back when he was playing with Manchester United in 2007.

But the Emmerdale actress has revealed in a new interview that their very first date was about as unromantic as it gets.

“It was really, really glamorous,” she joked to Key 103 Radio.

“We just went to my house and drank cups of tea and watched Only Fools and Horses. Genuinely.”

“I don’t know if he’s into it now, but it was on the telly.

“Only Fools and Horses and cups of tea, he seemed to enjoy it then but I’m going back about six, seven years.”

Atkinson has previously spoken of their brief fling, telling the media in 2010:

“With Cristiano it was mad, because everywhere he went he was followed by photographers.

“When we did split up I got offered so much money to speak about him and I didn’t want that.”

Read More

Cristiano Ronaldo's hat-trick against Wolfsburg was his 37th for Real Madrid - that's more than one every 10 games

Cristiano Ronaldo led Real Madrid to victory over Wolfsburg on Tuesday

He scored a hat-trick to overturn a 2-0 first-leg deficit in the Champions League quarter-final.

It was the 37th hat-trick of the Portuguese forward's Real Madrid career

To put it into perspective, Alan Shearer has scored more Premier League hat-tricks than anyone - with a total of 11  

Cristiano Ronaldo's hat-trick against Wolfsburg on Tuesday helped Real Madrid overcome a 2-0 deficit and earned his side a spot in the Champions League semi-finals.

Remarkably, it was his sixth hat-trick this season and the 37th of his dazzling career at Real Madrid.

The 31-year-old is as unstoppable as ever and the statistics behind his success are incredible.

His first hat-trick for Madrid was against Mallorca in La Liga in May 2010 and he has repeated the feat 36 times.

To put that into perspective, Alan Shearer has scored more hat-tricks in the Premier League than any other player - with a total of 11.

Robbie Fowler has nine and Thierry Henry and Michael Owen are next on the list with eight - Wayne Rooney has scored six. 

Ronaldo has scored five hat-tricks against Sevilla alone and has also bagged five goals in one game on two occasions, against Espanyol in September and Granada last April. 

After scoring three goals against Malmo in the Champions League in December, he joked with reporters about how many goals he could end up scoring for Real Madrid.

Read More

Watch Cristiano Ronaldo hat trick Real Madrid vs Wolfsburg

Cristiano Ronaldo hat trick Real Madrid vs Wolfsburg

Cristiano Ronaldo's hat-trick against Wolfsburg on Tuesday helped Real Madrid overcome a 2-0 deficit and earned his side a spot in the Champions League semi-finals.

Remarkably, it was his sixth hat-trick this season and the 37th of his dazzling career at Real Madrid.

The 31-year-old is as unstoppable as ever and the statistics behind his success are incredible.

Read More

"Nothing is impossible with Cristiano Ronaldo" - the Spanish press delights in Real Madrid's Champions League comeback

Real Madrid are in the Champions League semi-finals for the sixth time in a row after Cristiano Ronaldo's hat-trick handed them a 3-0 win and a memorable comeback at the Bernabeu.

"Is there anyone that still doubts Cristiano?" asked Emilio Contreras, chief editor atMarca as part of a thumb-blackening 22 pages of coverage of the game.

Their main match report, written by Santi Segurola, was titled "precision surgery" and chronicled an evening of "impeccable game management by Real Madrid."

"Wolfsburg did not have a chance worthy of the name... They not once worried Keylor [Navas]."

That's not strictly true, with Dante and Bruno Henrique both wasting great positions due to poor execution, but the Madrid press need little invitation to get carried away, even less on an evening like we witnessed at the Bernabeu last night.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, much of the praise was reserved for Cristiano Ronaldo, whose early double settled any Bernabeu nerves and late free-kick sealed his hat-trick and semi-final qualification.

Many of these eulogies focused on criticism Ronaldo has received this season:

"He who is never there, he who never turns up, the decadent footballer, the irrelevant forward, who doesn't press, who doesn't celebrate... once again was the difference between the good of qualifying for the semi-finals of the Champions League (of course, the sixth in a row) and the bad that would have been a quarter-final elimination.

"Cristiano again, once more him, another time the player that doesn't score quality goals. His hat-trick, the Nth that he has scored wearing this shirt, worth the price that serves for loading the train that heads direct to the undécima. "

The undécima , in case you were wondering, is 'the eleventh' Champions League trophy that Real Madrid are now, we are told, destined for.

Read More

“We are confident and we will give everything on the pitch”, stated the forward, two days before the game against Wolfsburg.

Cistiano Ronaldo, top scorer in the Champions League with 13 goals, showed his confidence in turning around the knockout tie against Wolfsburg. Two days before the decisive game at the Bernabéu, the Portuguese sent fans a message via Realmadrid TV and Realmadrid.com: “Tuesday will be a perfect night, it will be magical, with your support us players will give everything on the pitch and we will get through to the next round. ¡Hala Madrid!”.

How to win against Wolfsburg
“We can win by playing well, with 11 players on the pitch, more players on the bench and the 80.000 people I would love to see fill the stadium supporting the team, because this will give us a tremendous boost. I hope that it will be a magical night and I am very excited. The team are confident, the coach has faith and the fans must also have faith. Tuesday has to be a magical night”.

The key to victory
“It must be a perfect night. All aspects are important. Those of us on the pitch need to run fight and play with intensity for 90 minutes. Obviously, with the fans helping and supporting us it will be easier for us. It is also important to remain calm in certain situations, we need patience and to know how to suffer for the win. The key objective is getting through to the next round. It is the only option that will allow usplayers and the fans to leave the stadium happy”.

Read More