He has never won a Ballon d’Or: Ronaldo hits back at Xavi

Sporting Lisbon president has revealed he would love for Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo to come back and retire at his boyhood club.

After leading the Los Blancos to winning the 2016 UEFA Champions League Final against Atlético Madrid, he then steered the Portugal National Football Team to the Euro 2016 final, where they defeated France.

However, just as when he silenced the Jose Alvalade nine years ago, he promised to not go easy on his compatriots.

Confident that it already has what it takes to repeat as champion, Madrid bypassed high-profile signings after clinching its 11th European trophy previous year, limiting its moves to players not in the starting lineup entering the new season. So it really was a top drawer, excellent season for me. “I was top scorer in the Champions League and a European champion for both club and country”.

That it took Cristiano Ronaldo just five minutes to net on his first appearance for two months in a 5-2 rout of Osasuna that took Real to the top of the table was nothing new.

“He’s superior to everyone and is the best in the world, unless you are Real Madrid”. “He is ready and we’ll take things bit-by-bit”.

“The idea is for him to play 90 minutes”.

After the game and his return following the knee injury, he was asked about the contract talks, but he said that he did not know anything at this point and that people would need to speak to the president.

Xavi, who now plays for Al Sadd in Qatar, told Spanish radio station La SER earlier last week that, despite his achievements, Ronaldo could not come close to matching those of Xavi’s former Barca team-mate Lionel Messi. He always wants to play 90 minutes. We just have to keep working hard and improving game by game’. “Xavi has won everything, the World Cup, European Championships … and he has never won the Ballon d’Or”. “He is a great teammate”.

Luka Modric was as delighted as everyone else to have Cristiano Ronaldo back in the Real Madrid side on Saturday with the Croatian captain also speaking glowingly about our squad depth.

Karim Benzema also made his return as a substitute at the weekend and could feature again against Sporting, while the likes of Marcelo, Dani Carvajal and Casemiro could all return to the starting line-up.

The visit is the first by a Kenyan Head of State to Somalia in 30 years.