Ronaldo comments provoke controversy in Spain

Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo hit the headlines in the wake of his side's 1-0 home defeat to local rivals Atletico Madrid with some post-match comment in which he appeared to criticize some of his companions.

Ronaldo missed his side's two best chances in the defeat which leaves his side third in the table with their title hopes in ruins, nine points behind league leaders, FC Barcelona, who still have to play their game this weekend, but surprised journalists with a series of declarations in which he appeared to point the finger at some of his teammates.

"If everyone was at my level, we would be first," said Ronaldo.

"Every year the press seems to think that I am finished, but the numbers and the statistics are there to see," he said.

Real Madrid were without the injured Gareth Bale and lost Karim Benzema through injury at halftime with Jese Rodriguez and Lucas Vazquez playing as second half substitutes.

"I don't want to disrespect anyone, none of my companions, but when the best players are not there, it is hard to win. I like to play with Pepe, Karim, Gareth Bale...Marcelo... I don't want to say that Jese, Lucas and (Mateo) Kovacic are not good. They are very good, but..." commented Ronaldo.

He declarations were quickly a number one trending topic on Twitter and the headlines on the online sites of Spanish sports papers, Diario AS and Marca and maybe Ronaldo will have some explaining to do to his teammates in their next training session. Endi