Cristiano
Ronaldo who is standing trial in court over tax evasion might not
feature in the anticipated clash against his former English club.
Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo has finally returned to training with Real Madrid
but the defending European champions are set to be without the
Portuguese superstar in Tuesday’s UEFA Super Cup clash with Manchester
United in Skopje.
Ronaldo’s summer has been overshadowed by accusations of tax
evasion in Spain, which led to him being charged in a court near Madrid
last week, while he was handed an extended summer break by his club
after playing for Portugal at the Confederations Cup.
He only returned to training at the weekend, meaning it would be a
major surprise if coach Zinedine Zidane were to include the 32-year-old
against his former club in the match at the Philip II Arena in the
Macedonian capital.
“He needed to rest. He has had his holidays and that was important,”
said Zidane of the man whose two goals helped propel Madrid to a 4-1
victory over Juventus in the Champions League final in Cardiff two
months ago.
That victory saw Real become the first club to retain the trophy in
the Champions League era and completed a glorious campaign in which
they also won La Liga.
The season started with a 3-2 extra-time triumph against Sevilla in the Super Cup in the Norwegian city of Trondheim. “Real
Madrid is a team, a club, an institution that has hunger. We all know
where we are and when you finish a season like last year winning, it
helps you try to do the same thing coming into the new season,” Zidane — whose team have Barcelona to come at the weekend in the Spanish Super Cup — said in a UEFA interview.
However, his side failed to record a victory during a pre-season
tour of the United States that included a high-profile friendly
encounter with Jose Mourinho’s United in Santa Clara, California.
That International Champions Cup encounter ended in a 1-1 draw
before United won on penalties. While the Spaniards have made two
relatively low-key summer signings in Dani Ceballos from Betis and Theo
Hernandez from Atletico Madrid, United have spent big ahead of their
return to the Champions League.
The Europa League winners have added the defender Victor Lindelof
from Benfica, the midfielder Nemanja Matic from Chelsea and Everton
striker Romelu Lukaku and they wrapped up their preparations with a 2-1
win over Sampdoria in Dublin.
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
No comments:
Post a Comment