Cristiano
Ronaldo’s patience snapped on Tuesday over Barcelona’s three amigos when it was
put to him that Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar have the edge over Real Madrid’s
forwards because they get
on so well.
Madrid’s all-time record scorer was wound up by one too many
questions about his Barcelona nemesis when speaking ahead of Wednesday
night's Champions League last-16 tie at Roma.
“How do we know that [their relationship] is that way? It is
only because that is what is written,” he said when asked if the fact that
Suarez, Messi and Neymar were friends off the pitch gave them an advantage over
Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale, Ronaldo front three.
“When I was at United, I didn’t speak [off the pitch] to [Ryan]
Giggs, [Paul] Scholes and [Rio] Ferdinand apart from the normal ‘good morning’
but we won the Champions League.
“We talked on the pitch and that is all that mattered. Does it
matter that I don’t go out for dinner with Benzema or that Bale does not come
around my house? It is not important. This thing about the little meals, the
little hugs, the little kisses. To me that doesn’t mean anything.”
Ronaldo has kept a lid on any
resentment of Messi in recent seasons but having already been irritated by
questions about his own goalscoring form, he responded without holding back,
surprising even his own coach Zinedine Zidane who was sat next to him in the
pre-match press conference room.
The Ronaldo, Bale and Benzema forward line dominated the 2013-14
season and they won the club’s 10th European Cup together, with Ronaldo scoring
his 17th goal of the tournament in the final.
But the following season they were eclipsed by Suarez, Messi and
Neymar who scored 122 goals between them as they won the treble.
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