Cristiano Ronaldo has received public support from former Real Madrid team-mate Mesut Ozil, who claims there is ‘constant negativity’ surrounding the Portuguese.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner has come under fire from supporters and pundits following his much-talked-about departure from Manchester United.
He left the club after giving an explosive interview to journalist Piers Morgan in which he hit out at manager Erik ten Hag for being disrespectful.
However, Ronaldo’s poor form continued at the World Cup as he only scored in the opening match against Ghana and failed in the other two.
That led to Fernando Santos leaving Ronaldo on the bench in Tuesday’s 6-1 round-of-16 win over Switzerland, with his replacement Goncalo Ramos scoring a hat-trick to announce himself on the world stage. .
It is the most complicated period of the 37-year-old’s illustrious career so far, as he has started to receive criticism from all sides for his attitude.
Ozil, who played with Ronaldo at Real Madrid for three years between 2010 and 2013, tried to come out in support of his friend by posting on social media.
“I really don’t understand where this constant negativity from the media about Cristiano is coming from… The media is just trying to get clicks, and pundits who don’t have a career anymore just want to draw attention to his big name and try to make him look bad…”.
“He’s 38 soon – so what wonder he doesn’t score 50 goals a season anymore? Any football fan should be happy to have seen him play world-class football for 20 years – I don’t think anyone from the younger generation will be able to match his numbers again. He will forever be in his category.”