By Chris Wright
Cristiano Ronaldo took his goal tally for Real Madrid to a peerless 150 in 149 games with a couple of goals against Granada on Sunday evening, though his reaction (or lack thereof) has caused seismic waves in rumour-mill circles – with a glum Ronaldo flat-out refusing to celebrate.
After the match, reporters clawed to ask what in the blue blazes he was mithering about, to which Ronaldo flatly replied: “Maybe it’s because I am a bit down. That is the only explanation. When I don’t celebrate goals it’s because I’m not happy.”
Ronaldo was then asked if his funk was anything to do with Andres Iniesta pipping him to the UEFA ‘Best Player in Europe’ Award despite another record-shattering season for Real Madrid last year – Ronaldo replied: “No, it’s more important than that.”
He was then asked directly why he was so down – “People [at Real Madrid] know why”. He was then asked if it was a personal issue -“Professional”, came his abrupt reply.
Finally, Ronaldo was asked by a reporter whether he was angry with himself or the Spanish press, to which he replied: “No, it’s not that”. Then, when bluntly asked what was wrong—”I will speak no more.”
Obviously Ronaldo’s grouching has led many-a-tabloid to report that he’s on his way out of Madrid having had a furious to-do with Jose Mourinho over the bag of Licorice Allsorts that went missing from his locker or something to that effect – indeed, ‘reports in Spain’ this morning have it that Ronaldo has informed Florentino Perez that he wishes to leave because he is ‘sad’.
What on Earth could the matter be? Some are suggesting that he’s unhappy to see a few of his colleagues treated poorly (Coentrao – held in the same regard as canine faeces by Real fans, Carvalho – told to bog off or retire by Mourinho, etc) by the club over the last few months.
Some say he’s angling for a new contract, others reckon it’s something to do with him finding an erroneous hair in his industrial-sized tub of wet-look gel 10 minutes before the Granada game.
Perhaps we’ll never know. What’s your theory people of Pies?
(Thanks to @TouchlineDrama for the transcript)