Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said he has no doubt Cristiano Ronaldo will be the deserving winner of a fourth Ballon d’Or in January, but his hat-trick in a 3-0 defeat of Atletico Madrid on Saturday might convince others.
Ronaldo returned to haunt Atletico just five months after scoring the winning penalty in Real’s second UEFA Champions League victory over their city rivals in three seasons.
In the final La Liga derby at Atletico’s Vicente Calderon, Ronaldo’s deflected free-kick opened the scoring, before he doubled the lead from the penalty spot and completed his 39th Real Madrid hat-trick with a simple finish from Gareth Bale’s fine cross.
Photo: EPA
“I never had any doubt. It is not his three goals that are going to change my mind,” Zidane said about Ronaldo’s case to be crowned the world’s best player for this year. “He showed it all last season, he shows it in every game. There is so much expected of him, but he is ahead of the rest. Three goals in a match like this may make everyone agree, but for me there is no debate. The Ballon d’Or will be his.”
The victory extended Real’s lead at the top of La Liga to four points from Barcelona, who missed the ill Lionel Messi in a 0-0 draw at home to nine-man Malaga earlier on Saturday.
Real Madrid are now unbeaten in 29 games in all competitions stretching back to April, but this was Zidane’s men’s best display in that run.
The performance was even more impressive given Real were missing six key players through injury.
However, those absences forced Zidane to change his system to devastating effect, with Ronaldo playing as a centerforward and the outstanding Isco in his natural role just behind the Portuguese.
“I am left with Isco’s performance, he was phenomenal. In the first half he didn’t lose a single ball,” Zidane said. “That position is his position and with him behind Cristiano we were very well balanced.”
However, Zidane refused to admit Ronaldo would be retained as a centerforward once Karim Benzema and Alvaro Morata are fit again.
“He is comfortable in that position and we know that, but we will see what happens in the coming games,” he said.
A third league defeat in four games leaves Atletico’s title credentials hanging by a thread.
Diego Simeone’s men slipped to fifth and are nine points behind Real.
“Above all, in the first half they were better than us,” he said. “For the first 20 minutes of the second half we created chances, played in their half and controlled the game, but then came the penalty which took the wind out of our sails. It is clear that we need to find better solutions for the players to improve and maintain that 20-minute spell in the second half.”
Simeone’s surprise selection of Fernando Torres ahead of Kevin Gameiro up front failed to pay off, but Simeone defended his decision to start Torres in a bid to counteract Real’s threat from set-pieces.
“We were looking for more penetration and aerial play,” Simeone said. “With Torres, Saul [Niguez], [Diego] Godin and [Stefan] Savic will also balanced up their height at set-pieces, which is something important to consider.”
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