Barcelona VP calls out Cristiano Ronaldo for teammate criticism
Barcelona vice president Jordi Mestre called out Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo for criticizing his teammates, saying similar behavior would not have occurred among Barcelona players.
“Our team’s players would never say what he said,” Mestra told Spanish newspaper Marca. “The club monitors a lot of things before signing players. Honestly, I could not imagine one of our players saying what Cristiano said.”
After a 1–0 loss this weekend to rival Atletico Madrid, Ronaldo told reporters that Real would be a better team if all of his teammates played more like he does.
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“I don't want to disparage anyone, any partner, but when they're not the best...I like playing with Karim, Bale, Marcelo, but when they don’t play it's difficult,” Ronaldo said, according to Tiempo de Juego. “I don’t mean that Jese, Lucas and Kovacic are not good, but if everyone was at my level, maybe we’d be leaders.”
Ronaldo later said he doesn’t feel he is any better than any of his teammates, according to Marca.
The loss to Atletico and Barcelona’s 2–1 win over Sevilla on Sunday put Real 12 points behind Barca in La Liga standings and four points behind second-place Atletico.
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“I wanted a draw in the Madrid derby, which is what would have suited us best,” Mestre said, “but for myself in particular I always like it when Real Madrid loses.”
- Erin Flynn
