Cristiano Ronaldo won his fourth Ballon d’Or title in 2016, is already a Real Madrid and legend and will go down in history as Portugal’s captain who lifted the Euro 2016 trophy.
Given his illustrious career, mind-boggling numbers and general brilliance with the ball at his feet, one would think that he’s relied upon heavily by his employers Real Madrid.
However, a recent stat suggests that isn’t necessarily the case.
Following the club’s 3-0 win over Sevilla in the Copa del Rey, for which Ronaldo was rested, a curious stat from Opta began doing the rounds.
Under Zinedine Zidane, Madrid have won 10 of the 11 games they’ve played in Ronaldo’s absence, drawing the other.
90,9% - Under Zidane, Real Madrid have won 10 out of 11 games without Cristiano Ronaldo (D1), scoring an average of 3 goals per game. Team pic.twitter.com/TOKzIueAiH
— OptaJose (@OptaJose) January 4, 2017
Even without Gareth Bale, Los Blancos secured a comfortable win over Sevilla on Wednesday with Alvaro Morata, Marco Asensio and James Rodrigues stepping up.
Although the fixtures Ronaldo didnt feature in were relatively easy ones, it bodes well for Madrid’s future which perhaps won’t be so bleak once the Portuguese’s powers start to fade.
Do you think Ronaldo is still integral to Real Madrid?
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