Perhaps, Ronaldo was just trying to channel some of those Barca vibes for his own team, which is struggling under a manager and president that don’t seem to 100 percent gel with the rest of the players.
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“Of course the Clasico bothered us”.
Mario Mandzukic shrugged off his poor recent form to score the goal that sent last year’s runners-up Juventus into the Champions League round of 16 with a 1-0 win over Manchester City on Wednesday.
Los Blancos have already qualified for the knockout stages of the tournament, but they would want to win their remaining two group stage matches to top the group and avoid any tricky fixtures in the round of 16. Fred made a nice defensive stop on Isco in the 68th minute, did excellent to stop Real Madrid’s counter by stopping Isco in his track. The team is fine, with more confidence after securing maximum points here. With more concentration we would avoid that – and be just as solid as before.
There are suggestions that Benitez’s relationship with the players at the club is turning sour, with particular focus on three-time Ballon d’Or victor Cristiano Ronaldo.
Real Madrid pulled off a 3-4 win in Ukraine against Shakhtar Donestsk this Wednesday night, but the Merengues were forced to turn on their survival mode in the dying minutes of the game after nearly blowing up a 4-goal lead.
“It is a pleasure when you have the profile of the players we have and things go as you want”. With a new starting eleven that included the likes of Casemiro, Kovacic, Carvajal and Nacho, Madrid lined up up with a far more sensible formation than they did on the weekend, and it showed. Ronaldo had provided assists for both of the goals since his own strike and looked back to his imperious best against sub-par opposition. A crushing defeat to Bracelona has left Benitez’s troops demoralized, and his job hanging on a thread. Getting back to fitness is a lot of hard work. “We’ve conceded 10 goals in our last three matches, but today we acted as a single unit, as a team, and that’s a very encouraging sign”.
Benitez is under huge pressure after Real were thrashed 4-0 by Barcelona at home, but the former Liverpool boss feels reports of a crisis at the Santiago Bernabeu are greatly exaggerated.
“It’s good for us because they do not have an appropriate substitute”.
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Luis Enrique’s team has outscored opponents 18-1 in its last five games, while Neymar and Luis Suarez lead the league with 12 and 11 goals, respectively.
