I’m not upset with Ronaldo – Alvaro Arbeloa

Alvaro Arbeloa says he is not upset with Cristiano Ronaldo after the Real Madrid forward acted angrily to the right back scoring ahead of him in the game against Almeria.

The defender scored his first league goal for seven years when he turned home Chicharito’s cross in the 3-0 win over Almeria. But Cristiano Ronaldo was waiting just behind him and was keen to get on the scoresheet to keep up with Leo Messi in the race for the Pichichi award.

Rather than celebrate with his team mate, Ronaldo angrily rifled the ball into the net before walking back to the half way line.

Talking to journalists after the game, Arbeloa said his team mate’s reaction was understandable.

“I’m not upset about Cristiano’s gesture. It’s normal that he should be angry, he didn’t score and his ambition is always to score. The Pichichi trophy is at stake for him and we all understand that and try to help him,” he told reporters.

Speaking about the final stretch in the season, the former Liverpool man stated: “We’re not tired coming into the run-in. We have fuel in the tank, so we come into it in great shape, with all the strength in the world. In the Champions League our fate is in our own hands, and in La Liga it isn’t: our aim is to win the seven games that we have left if we get to the final in Berlin.

“The day we lost in Barcelona, we knew that we had to win the 10 games that we had left. If they do that too, we’ll congratulate them. But we have to put as much pressure on as possible and win all the games we have left, so that they have to fight and are made to sweat right to the end.”