Zinedine Zidane defends jeering Real Madrid fans, backs Ronaldo to recover form

Real Madrid manager Zidane has refused to hit back at Los Blancos fans for jeering star forward Cristiano Ronaldo, insisting that they expect the best from their players

Portugal captain and Madrid’s all-time leading goalscorer Cristiano Ronaldo has endured a tough start to the 2016-17 season, having made a comeback from the knee injury he suffered in the European Championship final against France earlier this year. In what has been his worst goal-scoring run in his Real Madrid stint, and one of the worst of his career, Ronaldo has managed to score just four goals in nine games this season.

For a player who is accustomed to scoring at least a goal per game over the last few seasons, his record of a goal every 192 minutes is an extremely poor return by the lofty standards he has set for himself. And things went from bad to worse for Ronaldo on Sunday night as he copped flak from a section of the Bernabeu crowd for taking unnecessary shots from long range.

Real Madrid went on to win the game 2-1 thanks to a late strike from Alvaro Morata but Ronaldo, who took 11 shots on goal in the match drew a blank yet again to take his domestic record to two goals from six games.

And as per Mirror, the Madrid boss Zidane admitted that fans do have a right to jeer, saying: “I don’t understand them but at the same time but at the same time I do because it happened to me too. This can happen. The fans expect the best from the players, that’s why the Bernabeu is special.”

Zidane, meanwhile, added that Ronaldo will take the boos and whistles in his stride, backing his star man to roar back to his usual form soon. Echoing former teammate Raul’s views, Zidane said: “Cristiano is used to that and it doesn’t worry him. Even if there are whistles… the important thing is just to keep on going. I would prefer him to score two or three goals a game but I’m not worried about what’s coming. He’s not finishing chances at the moment but the important thing is to have them. It won’t be long till he puts one in.”

Ronaldo’s poor form in front of goal hasn’t translated to a lull in his club’s fortunes as Real Madrid currently top the La Liga table, a point ahead of Atletico Madrid who are a further point ahead of defending champions Barcelona. They next face Cultural Leonesa in the fourth round of Copa del Rey on Wednesday night.