By PETE JENSON
Jose Mourinho’s relationship with Cristiano Ronaldo appears at breaking point as the Real Madrid coach prepares to take charge of his last four games at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Ronaldo has been captured by Spanish television appearing to direct an insult in Portuguese towards Mourinho in the club’s midweek win over Malaga with one channel, Cuatro, claiming the former Manchester United forward had shouted Foda-se! (f**k you!) at the home bench after scoring his 200th goal for the club.
The apparent insult came immediately after Ronaldo had thumped the club badge on his shirt and pointed to the pitch beneath him shouting: ‘I’m here, I’m here’ – a gesture understood as an ‘I do my talking on the pitch’ response to criticism from Mourinho before the game.
Mourinho had pointed the finger at Ronaldo last week when he said the league had been lost in the earlier stages of the season because the team began the campaign ‘sad’. It was a reference to Ronaldo’s use of the same word in a public show of discontent in September after a game against Granada. Ronaldo had told reporters he was sad when asked why he had not celebrated scoring in the match.
Mourinho’s comment came just three days after Ronaldo had responded to a question about his coach’s future saying: ‘It doesn’t matter to me. What matters to me is my future and the club.’
There was also conflict between the two earlier this year when Mourinho was reported to have criticised Ronaldo for easing up in the final stages of a first-leg Spanish Cup game against Valencia in January.
Astonishingly, Real Madrid have responded to the on-going in fighting at the club by imposing a media blackout with the usual pre-match press conference before tomorrow’s game against Espanyol cancelled.
Real Madrid defender Raul Albiol defended the pair saying: ‘They had an exchange of opinions, it was nothing more than that.’
The relationship with Mourinho has never matched the one he enjoyed with former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
Ronaldo is now just eight goals from Hugo Sanchez’s goal haul at the club. If he passes the Mexican he will be in the club’s all-time top five scorers. Nobody has clocked up the double century in fewer games but Mourinho has often occupied front pages instead of his star player.
The verbal exchange between Mourinho and Luka Modric in that midweek game was an all the more pleasant affair. After substituting the former Tottenham player in the second half Mourinho told him: ‘for the worst signing of the season you’re not at all bad at football’.
Modric was voted the worst signing of the summer by Spanish football fans earlier in the season before his goal against Manchester United transformed his fortunes in La Liga.
