FORBES: CRISTIANO RONALDO WAS THE HIGHEST PAID FOOTBALLER LAST YEAR

Cristiano Ronaldo

US business magazine Forbes says Portuguese super star, Cristiano Ronaldo was the highest paid footballer last year in their new report.

Forbes added that the forward was also the highest-paid team athlete last year. Real Madrid star Ronaldo was said to have earned a total of $82 million (£56.7m), with an annual salary of $53m (£36.7m) and $29m (£20m) in endorsements.


The 31-year-old Portugal captain, who became the world’s most expensive player when he joined Madrid from Manchester United for a record fee of £80m in 2009, signed a lucrative new five-year contract at the Bernabeu in 2013. Forbes, which also ranked Real Madrid as football’s most valuable club, said Ronaldo, a three-time FIFA Ballon d’Or winner, is now the best-paid team athlete across all sport.

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi, the 2015 FIFA Ballon d’Or winner, was second in the list on $77m (£53.3m), with the 28-year-old’s $51m (£35.3m) salary augmented by $26m (£18m) in endorsements. The Argentina captain renewed his Barca contract in 2014. Ronaldo and Messi, who have been the only Ballon d’Or winners since Kaka’s 2007 success, are some distance ahead of Paris Saint-Germain star Zlatan Ibrahimovic in third. Read More

CRISTIANO RONALDO SAYS “ALL GOOD”

Cristiano Ronaldo

Real Madrid Superstar, Cristiano Ronaldo has allayed the concerns that his impressive season for the Spanish giant, Real Madrid, might come to a much earlier end. The Portuguese sustained a late injury in Real Madrid’s victory over Villarreal in La Liga.

The talented winger raised concerns when he limped off in the final minutes in the game against the Spanish side. He caused a scare that he had picked up an apparent muscle injury in his right leg. Though he walked off the field by himself at the Santiago Bernabeu at the 3-0 triumph, he left his team mates and fans worried.

The player has netted 31 goals in the La Liga just this season that sets him top in the goal scorers’ chart. The three-time Ballon d’Or winner posted on popular social media app, Instagram, that he doing fine. The intent was to reassure fans.

“All good. Thanks for your support,” he posted.

However, the Spanish side has come out in line with the fears to posit that the star player is expected to have medical tests as a precaution. Madrid are a point behind fierce rivals, Barcelona. The face local rivals Rayo Vallecano on Saturday in their next La Liga title chase. They also have Champions League semi-finals matches where they face a two-legged affair with English side, Manchester City. Read More

Memphis Depay scored his first goal for Manchester United

Cristiano Ronaldo

Memphis Depay arrived to Old Trafford on July 10 of the current year and the Dutchman has kicked of his career with the Premier League club on a positive note as the recent signing scored his first goal in an official match with the Premier League club.

On July 22nd, Manchester United faced off with San Jose Earthquakes at the Memorial Stadium in California and won their International Champions Cup match with a comfortable 3-1 victory.

Juan Mata scored the opening goal of the match at the 32nd minute; Memphis Depay extended the lead to 2 goals but FataiAlashe cut down that lead as he scored the only goal of the entire match for San Jose Earthquakes before the first half had reached it’s end.

Andreas Pereira turned the match beyond the reach of the MLS team as he scored the last goal of the game as Manchester United won the game without facing much difficulty.

This match was planned to take place at the Memorial Stadium in the University of California campus in Berkeley but the location of the game was decided to be modified as a way to benefit Manchester United as the Premier League club was already staying in San Jose as they trained at the Earthquakes’ facilities in that period of time. Read More

Mateo Kovacic has sung lavished praise on star Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo

New Real Madrid signing Mateo Kovacic has sung lavished praise on star Cristiano Ronaldo ahead of making his debut for the Spanish club.

Ronaldo is regarded as one of the best footballers of all time. His amazing statistics in the last five years certainly back this fact. Even though he has a reputation for being a bad boy in some quarters, Ronaldo has been a huge influence on many fellow professionals. The 30-year-old will be playing in his sixth season at Madrid, where he will be joined by the 21-year-old –Kovacic. He has been brought in from Inter Milan for € 32 million.

Kovacic is seen as the ideal replacement for Modric, who will be entering into his 30s in a short while. While at Inter Milan, the Croatian international did not help matters by being inconsistent. Hence, he was not a regular first-team line-up. Despite it, Madrid have placed their faith on the undisputed talent within the midfielder. The presence of big names like Ronaldo and Karim Benzema could help him deliver on a more consistent basis.Kovacic is also happy that he can play alongside his international teammate Modric.Kovacic also claimed that he was joining the best club in the world. Madrid have lifted 10 European Cups. Read More

Rafa Benitez, the new head coach of the Los Blancos, would be using Cristiano Ronaldo alone upfront next season

Cristiano Ronaldo

There are reports that Rafa Benitez, the new head coach of the Los Blancos, would be using Cristiano Ronaldo alone upfront next season.

It would be quite different to the formation that his predecessor Ancelotti used to use.

Ancelotti had three men playing in the offensive line most of the times.

The reports also say that Karim Benzema would struggle to find himself amongst the starters of Benitez who has already coached several big teams before.

Benitez has come to Bernabeu with a reputation of being defensive minded and if he opts to go with a single striker, it would only draw criticism.

He, however, refused to admit in his press conference yesterday that his management style is defensive.

He was quoted as saying, “There is a perception that I create defensive formations, but, that’s not the case. You see the no. of goals that Napoli struck in the 2014-15 Season. It’s more than 100.” Read More

Real Madrid lost control of the La Liga race after losing against Barcelona

Cristiano Ronaldo

Real Madrid lost control of the La Liga race after losing against Barcelona in the Spanish derby which was played on March 22. Following this defeat, rumors began to build up claiming that Cristiano Ronaldo might be making a move to the Premier League more specifically to Manchester City or a possible return to Manchester United.

Manchester City and Manchester United both have the financial prowess needed to sign a high profile player such as Cristiano Ronaldo but at the age of 30, it wouldn’t be a wise thing to do to offload a significantly high amount of cash in order to secure the services of a player who is considered to be one of the best players in the world but at such an elevated age, it remains uncertain as to how long the Portuguese forward will be able to keep up his work rate and the speed that he displays in the pitch.

The President of Real Madrid, Florentino Perez was asked about the current situation of Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale and Perez replied by saying that Real Madrid will not be listening to any of the offers that are launched in relation to either Bale or Ronaldo as those are the main stars of the Spanish club.

Real Madrid’s Florentino Perez said: “We shall never listen to any offers for Bale. He is the key to the club’s future, just as I cannot imagine a future without Cristiano Ronaldo. There’s only one Cristiano. Bale is a great player, but he doesn’t win you matches on his own. He doesn’t defend because he doesn’t want to.” Read More

Thierry Henry finds lessi better Player than Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo

Former Arsenal and Barcelona superstar Thierry Henry claims that he thinks Lionel Messi is a better player than Cristiano Ronaldo simply because of having played with the Argentine. Henry played along with Messi during his couple of years at Barcelona.

He has come up against Ronaldo on several occasions – both as an Arsenal star and while at Barcelona. Henry, therefore, is well placed to judge between the duo, who have occupied the top two spots in the FIFA Ballon d’Or awards for the last five seasons. Now working as a Sky Sports pundit, Henry says that Ronaldo and Messi are almost perfect but he would pick Messi on the verge of having played with the 27-year-old.

Ronaldo recently set a new record of having scored more than 30 league goals for the past five consecutive seasons. Messi is next on the record with four. The little Argentine is comparatively younger than Ronaldo and he is expected to dominate world football at least for a few more years than the Portuguese. Read More