Ronaldo outlines aims for 2014 at DISC opening

Joy Chakravarty 11:00 29/12/2013
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  • Nice to meet you: Ronaldo shakes hands with a student from the Rashid Paediatric Centre.

    Portugal and Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has promised he will leave no stone unturned in his efforts to score even more goals in 2014.

    Ronaldo, who was in the UAE on Saturday to inaugurate the 8th Dubai International Sports Conference, is the highest goal-scorer in world football this calendar year with 69 for club and country, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic (47) and Lionel Messi (45) a distant second and third. In 2012, Ronaldo found the net 63 times.

    Speaking during the opening session of the conference, which was chaired by former referee Pierluigi Collina, Ronaldo said: “Scoring goals is my passion.

    “Of course, scoring goals is not everything, but without goals you are not going to win the match. “I have always seen every new season as a new challenge. I am always trying to improve myself. It will not be easy to beat the record of 69 goals, but I will try my best to break it. If you don’t try, you are never going to achieve anything.”

    Ronaldo charmed the crowd during the 20-minute session at Mina Al-Salam Hotel answering questions at the beginning posed to him by three children from the Rashid Paediatric Centre in Dubai.

    When asked who his favourite player was, Ronaldo brought the house down by retorting: “My favourite player? You mean apart from me?!”

    That cockiness, backed by his ability to deliver on the pitch, was also the reason Ronaldo topped the Fans’ Favourite category at the Globe Soccer awards. He is also nominated for the Globe Soccer Player of the Year award, presented tonight at Madinat Jumeirah.

    Aside from attempting to win a 10th Champions League trophy for Real Madrid and recapture the La Liga title from Barcelona, Ronaldo’s other main focus of 2014 will be the World Cup in Brazil.

    With Portugal drawn in a tough group which includes Germany, Ghana and the United States, Ronaldo admits they cannot look too far ahead in the tournament.

    Ronaldo said: “I have to be very honest, but the priority really is to pass the group. We have to keep our feet on the ground and we have got to take it game-by-game. We have a very difficult group and our first game is against Germany.

    “Let’s see what happens in that match, and we will then start focusing on the next match.”

    The primary reason Portugal will be competitng next summer is due to the four goals Ronaldo struck in the two legs of the UEFA play-off against Sweden, including a hat-trick in Stockholm.

    He said: “Well…I did my job. We had a very difficult qualification, but we were the better side in both the matches and I am glad I was able to score and help my team.”

    Beaten finalists at the 2004 European Championship and semi-finalists in the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2012, Portugal have always promised a lot but fallen short of delivering titles, but Ronaldo is not worried about that trend.

    He said: “All I can say is that it was difficult situation for Portugal in crucial moments. We lost against Spain (Euro2012) in penalties. That was bitter as there is also some luck in any penalties.

    “If you compare us with Spain, obviously, they have won many tournaments in recent times, but the question to ask is why they did not win before that?

    “We do not have the quantity of players as Spain has, but we are not giving up. We know it is going to be difficult, but we can win Euros and World Cups. We just need to get a little more lucky and there is no reason why things won’t change.”

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