Cristiano Ronaldo has criticised his Real Madrid teammates after Saturday’s derby defeat to Atletico Madrid, claiming they would be top of the table if others were on the same level as him.
Antoine Griezmann’s second half strike sealed a 1-0 win for Atletico which has left Zinedine Zidane’s side nine points behind La Liga leaders Barcelona, who also have a game in hand.
And in an explosive interview after the loss at the Santiago Bernabeu, Ronaldo blamed his teammates for Madrid’s failing title challenge and believes criticism directed at his own performances is unfounded.
“If everyone was as good as me, maybe we would be first,” said Ronaldo.
“I do not want to belittle anyone but when they are not the best it is difficult to win. I like to play with Karim [Benzema], [Gareth] Bale and Marcelo.
“I do not mean that Jese, Lucas [Vazquez] and [Mateo] Kovacic are not good, they are very good, but to win a competition you need the best and that has been our main problem this year.
“I don’t know if it was poor preparation in the first half of the season but we’re having a lot of injuries and that hurts us.
“We had more chances and we deserved to win but football is like that.
“From what the press says it seems like I am doing [expletive] but the numbers and statistics do not lie. They are there.”
Meanwhile, Zidane, has hinted he could quit the club at the end of the season.
Zidane who took over from Rafael Benitez in January has enjoyed a successful start to his managerial career.
“Next year there might be changes, players and coach. But for now we must keep going as we have something to aim for,” Zidane told reporters.
