Player Focus: Ronaldo's Disappointing Outings Against La Liga's Best
Real Madrid’s decision to dismiss Rafa Benitez came as a relief to many of the fans and the majority of the squad. Over recent months, a number of players had voiced their discontent at the Spaniard’s workings and while president Florentino Perez backed Benitez publically until the end, he was left with little choice but to relieve the 55-year-old of his duties despite a far from disastrous season in terms of results. In his place comes Zinedine Zidane, with the idea that the Frenchman could be the club’s very own Pep Guardiola having been promoted from Real Madrid B to the senior side.
While the Frenchman stuttered with Real Madrid Castilla, the hope is his appointment will appease a number of the club’s star players who were considering departing the Bernabeu while Benitez was in charge. One of those reportedly unhappy with the now-former Madrid coach's ethos was Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portugal international is one who favours the spotlight, while when things aren’t going his way, the 30-year-old often makes his frustrations known.
Nevertheless, it hasn’t stopped Ronaldo from enjoying a strong season to date, on the face of it at least. Only Luis Suarez (15) has scored more La Liga goals than Ronaldo (14) this season, while his five league assists is second only to Madrid teammate Gareth Bale and Neymar (both 7). However, while the figures are indeed commendable, the standard of the opposition masks his notable goalscoring return. Ronaldo has often been criticised for underwhelming in the so-called big games of late.
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This season alone, his second lowest WhoScored rating in a match came against Barcelona (6.48), while three of his worst ratings in a league game were in meetings with the other three teams occupying the top-four spots - Barcelona, Atletico Madrid (6.77) and Villarreal (6.70). It isn’t just his poor performances against these teams either, but also his goalscoring record against the teams in the top half of the table.
Of the 14 league goals he has scored this season, only two have been against teams currently in the top half of La Liga - Celta Vigo and Eibar, the latter of which was a penalty in a game where he received a modest WhoScored rating of 6.87. Furthermore, six of the 14 league goals scored came against four of the bottom six teams in La Liga, while failing to net in matches against the likes of Granada and Sporting Gijon.
This inability to find his way to goal against La Liga’s better teams is an ongoing concern for Ronaldo as he has aged, but with Benitez at the helm, it had increasingly become more worrying for the attacker. For the first time in the last seven league seasons, Ronaldo’s WhoScored rating is currently below 8.00. Benitez’s conservative tactics of course limited his offensive influence, but when the onus was on Ronaldo to hit the back of the net, he failed to have the impact he once did.
It’s not for want of trying either, with Ronaldo again averaging more shots per game (6.4) than any other player in Europe’s top five leagues this season. However, that average is his joint-lowest in the last seven league campaigns. It appears as though with time, Ronaldo’s influence for Madrid is beginning to wane, particularly against tougher opponents. Against sides that will sit back to soak up pressure, a player of the Portuguese’s calibre will undoubtedly punish them, as was the case against Espanyol back in September when Ronaldo netted five in a 6-0 win.
However, when teams play higher up the pitch and boast the personnel capable of halting Ronaldo, he is struggling to properly affect games in the same manner of old. It’s no wonder rumours suggesting this could well be his final season at the Bernabeu continue to gather momentum, particularly with PSG reportedly interested. With Perez keen to see Gareth Bale succeed in Madrid, and with the Welshman the most like-for-like replacement for Ronaldo, the latter could indeed make room for the former to properly thrive.
Of course, the shackles could well be removed now with Zidane at the Madrid helm, potentially providing Ronaldo with the opportunity to improve his goalscoring record against La Liga’s best teams and add to the 14 league goals he has scored this season. Yet, such underwhelming displays against the league’s better sides could suggest that the sun is beginning to set on Ronaldo’s remarkable career.
What do you make of Cristiano Ronaldo's performances for Real Madrid in La Liga this season? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below
For starter I'm both germany and argentine football fan. So i have natural biased towards messi. and maradonna etc I used to hate cr7 guts, he arrogant and self-obsessed and cheat sometimes rooney vs cr7 in 2006 world cup and plus a show-off, his cl penalty comes to mind against chelsea. But with time i was actually won over by him. His performances and as character(to minor extent though his performances mostly) won me over. 1) Messi winning 7 ballon dor- Like it or not this guy is a legend. If cr7 was not in the game. Messi would have won 7 ballon dor already. This ronaldo guy competed against messi in his own backyard-la liga- and took two ballon dor right in messi face. 2) Myth of being individualistic rather than team player Ppl accusing cr7 as being too indvidualitic should look to assist charts. He is second after messi in that regard. We consider messi as team player as opposed to cr7 as individalistic glory hunter. Even though cr7 came to la liga in 2009 others in list like
ronaldo like i said only came in 2009 and he is already top scorer and second highest assist provider-talk about individual glory hunter. Last season if i remeber correctly cr7 had 16 assists 4 less than kevin de bruyne 20. 3) Real Madrid revival in europe If i remeber correctly real pretty shit in europe b4 cr7 came along. Heck they beaten by rafa benetiez own liverpool in their own back yard. Real Madrid were regularly harrassed by lyon. In fact it was even shown in the movie goal. If i remeber correctly except for barca who were a great team even during frank rijkard era real madrid were put bad name for la liga during that time. Frankly after cr7 came-not saying he is sole reason of real madrid being a dominant europe again- real madrid revival start. So cr7 must contributed real revival one way or another. He challenging
messi head on. he is not as individualistic as u guys make him to be. 4) Tracking back or point 2 againt not a team player myth The only blame u put on ronaldo is that he does not track back.
Last time i check so does messi, hazzard(he is not even neymar level let alone cr7 and messi level) neymar, bale(this season at least although doing his tracking back during ancelloti stewardship) all does not track. Except for meessi none of them are cr7 level. I wrote huge ass piece to remind all of fools for stop underrating cr7. This is coming i repeat from an argentine and german football fan.
Ronaldo... In the last years - such an overrated player. He had 1-2, at most 3 great seasons, all which happened when he played for MU. That time passed. Why are people so concerned with him? Take any great player, Muller, Lewandowski, Messi, Neymar, Suarez, Rakitic, Modric, Ibra - Ronaldo isn't in any way better than ANY of those.
He'll turn 31 in just a month from now. He has played some great football but I think he'll soon feel age upon him. Bale is ready to take the center stage and Madrid should build a team around him. He has been good but age catches you once you are past your 30. He'll move on to PSG where he'll be the main man again.
I think Hazard rumours are plausible. Unless BBC is re-invented under Zidane, we can see some major changes.
@ Whoscored.com...Why is Ronaldo still considered a " good dribbler " in the characteristics ? His numbers have been constant around 1,2-1,5 dribbles per game the last seasons which lets him rank 276 th ! in europe right now ( Messi 1st, Nemar 2nd ),several Centerbacks have better stats ... Other players who are constantly ranking much higher in the dribble per game ratio have not been mentioned in their characteristics for their ability in dribbling. I thougt you update those stats each season according to the delivered output ? I have the feeling that Romnaldo just have to be called a good dribbler for sake of it since he is....Ronaldo. He is not even amongst the best four in his own club !
Ronaldo doesn't score and you say : "Ronaldo didn't score." - Madrid fans will respond that you hate him and that you are obsessed with him. They are so in love with Ronaldo it's scary really. There are numbers which clearly show how bad he is, but hey. He scored his goals against Eibar. Amazing player. In my opinion, Iniesta is at least 4x better player than him.
@blitz You are clearly obsessed with Real Madrid fans. You claim to know us and paint us all with the same brush. We love our club and we love our players. If you have a problem with Madrid fans, stay away from all articles related to Madrid or its players, or even its coaches for that matter...
Let Ronaldo be. He is not concerned about people's opinion or perception of him. He is concerned about his statistics and number of awards. He chose his path, let him stick to it and let him fulfill his chosen destiny. Let him leave the legacy of his choosing. Nuff said
@Peter_Griffin Is it :"Your hate makes me strong" or is some other childish conspiracy calling from Cristiano Ronaldo? I just wonder how can you say you are a Madrid fan when you put his achievments in front of anything.
@blitz I will not criticize a player whose lone contribution has ensured his side win almost every trophy that they play for. Its simple, Ronaldo's pursuit of his own interests benefits Madrid. He plays for himself and nobody in the team would vote to have him NOT on the pitch with them. Who else besides Messi can guarantee your team 40+ goals every season? tell me you would not want Ronaldo in your team
does not dive into tackles ..............comedy of the century
@jamshy Hahahahahahah. Truly!
Cristiano Ronaldo is overrated. I would take Messi, Ibrahimovic, Neymar and Suarez ahead of him.
@Proof even neymar best season in which he is listed in finalist for ballon dor is still behind cr7 in scoring charts. Considering this is disappointing return for cr7. Meaning if neymar perform his best is equal to cr7 worst season. That the standard cr7 has set.
This is why Barcelona consistently win more trophies than Real, their big players do it in the big matches
His attitude on the pitch is questionable to say the least, he puts zero effort in defending and doesn't even track back to block passing lanes.
@alonan100 u can say same of hazard as well. Neymar does the same for brazil as well.
which shows once again that he is useless against top teams , only a bigshot vs the smaller teams like malmo,getafe and so on