Media fail to make Portuguese man-o’-sex feel welcome in Madrid

Never ones to wildly speculate or make stuff up based on thoroughly insufficient evidence, the vultures of the Spanish press seem to be circling around Cristiano Ronaldo of late.

A few weeks ago, Madrid-based daily paper Marca ran a story on their front cover claiming the Portuguese was struggling to fit into the side, and that he was therefore suffering from ‘Zidane Syndrome’. This assessment was made before La Liga 2009/10 had even started, and was thoroughly devoid of quotes or proof.

This morning, they have reintroduced their anxiety theory with the help of Jorge Valdano, the Madrid sporting director who seems to be piping up a lot more of late. He is quoted as saying:

“In the first league game I liked Cristiano.