Ronaldo in spotlight as Real Madrid prepare for Champions League return

Real Madrid are preparing for their trip to play German side Schalke 04 on Wednesday night with several question marks hanging over the side, but with the form of Cristiano Ronaldo a particular worry.

Ronaldo will travel with Real Madrid on the back of two games (Atletico Madrid and Deportivo la Coruna) in which he has been a peripheral figure at best, spending most of his time out on the wing, waiting for the ball to come to him and then doing little when it has reached him.

He has cut a frustrated figure in those two appearances, just as he did a month ago in Cordoba, when he was sent off for kicking out at a rival and subsequently suspended for two games.

At the time some tried to see the silver lining in that cloud, arguing it would give him time to recover from what looks like a niggling knee problems, which he himself admitted was causing him pain earlier in the year.

It could also have given him time to recover emotionally after the news that his relationship with the Russian model Irina Shayk had ended after five years of them being together and which seems to have shaken him badly.

Unfortunately for Ronaldo, he has not shown any signs of lifting his game since the suspension, indeed just the opposite has happened and during that time he also incurred the wrath of the Real Madrid fans after photos of his 30th birthday party were filtered just hours after Real Madrid were humiliated 4-0 away to Atletico. A game in which he produced one of his worst ever displays in a Real Madrid shirt.

The fans who celebrated his triumph over Leo Messi in the Balon D' Or awards in mid-January, booed when his name was announced over the PA system in the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on Saturday evening and they booed again when he sent a free kick ballooning into the stands.

Meanwhile over in Barcelona, the fans in the Camp Nou took time out from enjoying their side's 5-0 thrashing of Levante to dedicate Ronaldo their own song in memory of his party. "Ronaldo's a drunk," they chorused in the midst of Leo Messi's hat-trick.

Messi' s impressive form of 2015 is a mirror which must hurt Ronaldo. While the Portuguese striker has netted just 3 goals in 2015, Messi has gone into overdrive scoring 13 and moving to within just two goals of Ronaldo in the race to be top scorer this season, as well as providing several assists.

Now the Champions League returns and although Madrid will be confident of defeated a side they beat 9-2 on aggregate last year, there is no room for errors and if Ronaldo doesn't return to form, the new contract signed by clubs in the English Premier League will see rumors of a move back to Manchester United come back with a vengeance. Endi