By Chris Wright
As well as James Rodriguez’s marvellous 25-yard walloper, Real Madrid’s 3-0 victory over Almeria in La Liga last night also saw workhorse right-back Alvaro Arbeloa score his first league goal in over five years.
Ordinarily, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who didn’t feel at least a faint flicker of enjoyment at seeing a man break such a duck – until you remember that Arbeloa plays in the same team as Cristiano Ronaldo.
As well as angrily hoofing the ball into the net in frustration after being robbed of his 40th league goal of the season, Ronaldo was also captured on camera sulking because Arbeloa didn’t relinquish the tap-in to his obvious superior…
It’s at these moments, when the mask slips just slightly, that you can just tell it’s never really been a team game in Cristiano’s mind.