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"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 front three of Karim
Benzema, Gareth Bale and Ronaldo.
"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."
When
his own form was questioned, Ronaldo said: "I would like to continue
this form that you say is so bad until the end of the season."
Critics
Ronaldo
has scored 32 goals this season but his critics argue he now struggles
against top teams and away from home. In 30 games in all competitions he
has failed to score in 15 matches and his last 16 goals have all been
scored at the Bernabeu.
When asked about this run ahead of tonight's
tie in Rome, he said: "Since I have been in Spain, name one player who
has scored more goals than me away from home."
When
no one responded, he added: "You don't have one," and left the table
before his answer could be translated into Italian by the UEFA
interpreter, surprising even his own coach Zinedine Zidane who was
sitting next to him in the press conference room.
Zidane is seen as the cure for so many of Real
Madrid's ills, so it is little wonder that it is almost taken for
granted that he will bring an end the club's 29-year failure to win a
two-legged European tie against Italian opposition.
Scorer
of the club's definitive Champions League goal - that guided-missile
volley at Hampden in 2002 from Roberto Carlos' pass - he has united
supporters, settled players and looked just as dazzling in training
sessions as he did a decade ago in his pomp as a player.
They still have Zidane on a pedestal a couple
of inches higher than Ronaldo, whose incredible 17 goals in one
Champions League campaign, including a penalty in the final, gave them
their long pined-after 'Decima' in 2014.
Asked
about the form of his most prolific forward last weekend, the Real
Madrid coach said: "I don't know if I can say this but 'de puta madre'."
Translating swear words is never easy but
'f***ing magic' probably best sums up the spirit of the somewhat
industrial language chosen.
Zidane has been given an easier ride than Rafa Benitez in his first six games in charge.
Four of those matches have been home wins with
20 goals scored in total. But in away matches with Granada and Betis -
games that produced a narrow victory and a draw - the old demons that
haunted Benitez don't appear to have been properly exorcised.
And this is not just any away day - this is Italy, land of that 29-year curse.
Real
were beaten in a European Cup semi-final by Milan in 1989 and they lost
again to Milan in the quarter-finals of the same competition a year
later.
In the 1991-'92 season, they were beaten by
Torino in the UEFA Cup and they then embarked on a Juventus nightmare.
They beat La Vecchia Signora in the 1998 final but over two legs there
were losses against them in 1996, 2003 and 2005.
They
also lost to Roma in 2008 when the club was coached by Luciano
Spalletti - as it will be tonight - while last season they were turned
over by Juventus again.
Roma,
however, will not be the most difficult Italian opponents they have
faced. They were beaten 6-1 by Barcelona at the Camp Nou in the group
stages, although Spalletti has lifted them since taking over.
La Liga is slipping from Real's grasp and they
tend to be at their most dangerous in the European Cup when the
domestic prize is not on offer to distract them. James Rodriguez is the
player whose quality perhaps most resembles that of his coach.
A
mixture of injury, poor form, fatigue from international call-ups and
falling out with Benitez has had a detrimental effect on his season and
he has played only 64 minutes of the competition so far. But with Gareth
Bale out of tonight's clash, Rodriguez will link up with Ronaldo and
Benzema behind Toni Kroos and Luka Modric.
Real will miss Bale's powerful running but there is magic in that quintet of ball-players.
Holding the baton on the touchline will be a
manager making his Champions League debut out to end a curse that
stretches for almost three decades as he does so. (© Independent News
Service)
Roma v Real Madrid, Live, RTE2/BT Sport Europe, 7.45
Independent News Service
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