Real Madrid have plenty of serious problems as they head into Wednesday’s make-orbreak Champions League quarterfinal clash with Atletico.
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For starters, they have four important players missing, with the suspended Marcelo joined by Luka Modric, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema on the sidelines.
They are also burdened by the knowledge of their recent failures against Wednesday’s opponents, winning none of their seven derby clashes this season and not even scoring – something they must do tonight – in four of them.
And more generally, Los Blancos are coming into the game amid a nervous atmosphere of negativity and uncertainty, with fans giving the very distinct impression that they are ready to turn against their team if things start to go wrong.
Real also have, however, the player who has been named by his peers as the best in the world for the last two consecutive years. And it’s time for Cristiano Ronaldo to stand up and be counted.
Don’t be fooled by his recent five-goal haul against an awful Granada: Ronaldo has been nowhere near his best for a number of weeks now.
The Portuguese has flitted in and out of games, scoring just about often enough to avert talk of a ‘crisis’ but also misfiring with sufficient frequency to provoke his very visible frustration – both on the pitch where he has lapsed into several angry outbursts, and off the field where he is maintaining a sulky personal policy of not speaking to the media.
Let’s not exaggerate, Ronaldo’s not been bad in recent weeks. But neither has he been outstanding and that, by his own exceptionally high standards, is not good enough.
.@Cristiano Ronaldo: 50 goals scored for the fifth consecutive season http://t.co/qIeBl2GXyB #HalaMadrid pic.twitter.com/FyP7XZM7oV
— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadriden) April 19, 2015
There is also a suggestion that Ronaldo fails to deliver when it really matters, reserving his goal gluts for inferior opposition. His hat-tricks this season, for example, have come against Granada, Celta Vigo, Athletic Bilbao, Elche and Deportivo La Coruna – all of those teams are either mid-table or battling against relegation in Spain.
It’s certainly the case that Ronaldo has been unable make much of a contribution to his team’s recent struggles against Atleti, scoring just two goals – one of them a penalty – in this season’s seven meetings.
Even during the first-half of last week’s encounter at the Vicente Calderon, when Real were playing well and creating chances, Ronaldo was somewhat peripheral with Atleti keeper Jan Oblak instead catching the eye with saves from Gareth Bale and James Rodriguez.
And in the second half, when Los Blancos were struggling to re-establish their early dominance, Ronaldo had more or less gone missing – not for the first time against Atletico this season.
This isn’t to suggest that Ronaldo fails to contribute in big games, because he has done just that on many occasions.
He scored, for example, Manchester United’s goal in the 2008 Champions League Final against Chelsea (never mind his subsequent penalty shootout miss, which can happen to any player), and a sensational hat-trick against Sweden to send Portugal into last summer’s World Cup.
And more recently, Ronaldo rescued Real’s Champions League campaign with two goals against Schalke, almost single-handedly securing a nail-biting aggregate victory on a shambolic night at the Bernabeu.
But on Wednesday, Real need Ronaldo more than ever. It’s time for him to show – again – why he is one of the world’s greatest players.
