Cristiano Ronaldo’s former Real Madrid teammate Karim Benzema called the Portuguese ace more egotistical than him in an interview in 2017.
However, the Frenchman admitted that this quality of the Al-Nassr superstar brought out the best in both attackers as the duo bagged loads of goals. Together, the pair played 342 matches for the Spanish giants across competitions and managed 76 joint goal contributions.
Speaking to Canal Football Club, Benzema said about Ronaldo at the time (via Bleacher Report):
“Cristiano and I get on well and I like playing with him. He likes to play it first time. He is more egotistical than me but that’s normal, it doesn’t bother me. In the end, it’s good for me.”
“I score goals but when there is someone beside me who scores 50 goals a year….before a striker would score 25 goals and he was a good striker, but now…” he added.
When Ronaldo was at Santiago Bernabeu, he made 438 appearances across competitions, bagging 450 goals and 131 assists. He won the UEFA Champions League four times with Real Madrid along with two La Liga titles, among other honors.
Meanwhile, Benzema played 648 matches across competitions for the Madrid-based outfit, bagging 354 goals and 165 assists. He held the UEFA Champions League trophy five times with Los Blancos while being crowned La Liga champion on four occasions.
Giorgio Chiellini claims Cristiano Ronaldo wanted revenge against Real Madrid after move to Juventus
Cristiano Ronaldo’s former Juventus teammate Giorgio Chiellini said in a recent podcast that the Portugal international was out for revenge against Real Madrid in the 2018-19 season.
According to the defender, Ronaldo was unhappy about his reported €117 million sale to the Turin-based club from Los Blancos in the summer of 2018.
Speaking about the 39-year-old, with whom the center-back played 55 matches, managing two joint goal contributions, Chiellini told the BSMT Podcast (via Forbes):
“His (Cristiano Ronaldo) personality in difficult times impressed me. The first year he wanted to shake up the world and show that he was stronger than all of Real Madrid. We were unlucky with injuries and lost to Ajax. If we had reached the final, he would have led us to victory.”
In the 2018-19 Champions League season, Juventus were knocked out by Dutch outfit Ajax in the quarter-final (3-2). However, they would not have faced Los Blancos in further stages of the competition, given the Spanish team lost to Ajax in the Round of 16.
