Former Real Madrid Boss Dismisses That Cristiano Ronaldo Dispute Caused Exit
Cristiano Ronaldo is arguably the greatest player to ever wear the Real Madrid shirt. During his spell in the Spanish capital, Ronaldo played under several legendary managers.
Manuel Pellegrini, Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Rafael Benitez, and Zinedine Zidane to name a few. While Ronaldo largely had a great relationship with all the bosses, that wasn't necessarily the case with Benitez.
The Portuguese international maintained impressive numbers in the 24 matches he played under Benitez, scoring 25 goals and providing eight assists. Many reckon the rumoured dispute with Ronaldo was the reason behind Benitez's exit after a short stint.
Benitez, however, has dismissed the notion. He claimed that it was rather some internal issues at the club that forced his exit, not Cristiano Ronaldo. Speaking to Egyptian channel MBC Masr 2, Benitez said (quotes via MARCA):
It’s not true that I left Real Madrid for Cristiano Ronaldo. There was never any problem between us; he is a great player and a phenomenon. I left due to certain internal issues within the club, but they had nothing to do with Ronaldo.
- Rafael Benitez
After Rafael Benitez's short spell at the start of the 2015-16 season, Zinedine Zidane took over as the Real Madrid boss. Los Blancos won three back-to-back UEFA Champions League titles until 2018 with Cristiano Ronaldo finishing each season as the top scorer of the competition.
Ronaldo arguably played his best for Real Madrid during that period and left the club in 2018 for Juventus. He scored 450 goals in 438 appearances and won 17 trophies.
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Apratim is an experienced sports journalist having covered European and World Football, Combat Sports, Olympic Sports, and more for online media publications like Sportskeeda, EssentiallySports, and more. He is currently an MSc. in Sport Marketing student at Loughborough University, London.