Cristiano Ronaldo doesn’t always react very well to change, especially if he’s not the main focus of that change.
There were those who wondered how the brilliant Portuguese would react to Rafa Benitez taking over the reigns at Real Madrid, and how exactly that would impact upon the dynamics at the Bernabeu.
Firstly, Benitez replaced Carlo Ancelotti, a manager with whom Ronaldo got on especially well. The 30-year-old even went public in his desire for the Italian to keep his job.
Secondly, there was the clash of personalities. Ronaldo doesn’t always enjoy being told how to play the game he feels he has perfected; Rafa is a deeply conservative and dictatorial tactician.
It makes Ronaldo’s most recent tantrum all the more intriguing. On Wednesday, Benitez disallowed one of the player’s goals in training and Ronnie blew a fuse. That’s right – a tiff over a training ground goal.
The Portuguese was caught on camera gesticulating rudely towards Rafa and shouting “Vai Caralho! Solo ves ofensa contra los Portugueses!”, which roughly translates to “FFS! You only give decisions against the Portuguese!”
Later he is seen describing a crossbar challenge that Benitez set up as “shit”. As you can see from the footage, it’s no high jinx or matey banter. He’s in full brat mode.
Now in itself this would seem largely irrelevant. Footballer is moody on training ground shocker. But Ronaldo knows the score. He’s fully aware that any show of insolence would be big news for the convened media.
Benitez did his best to play down the incident: “He is competitive and wants to win. That’s the reason he’s the best in the world – I’d like all my players to be like that.”
Despite his diplomacy, it’s not a good start. It is hard to maintain a level of authority as the coach of Real Madrid in any case –Â your star man undermining you from the outset doesn’t help you command the respect of others.
At best Ronaldo is testing the waters; making clear to the new broom that he’s the alpha male around the Bernabeu. At worst the Portguese has decided he’s going to make life as difficult as possible for Benitez…and they’ll be a breaking point.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6BtfZkZ2yw
