Since the first leg of the Spanish Supercup against FC Barcelona, Cristiano Ronaldo has been absent in the line-ups of Real Madrid. The Portuguese striker was banned 5 games after pushing the referee for sending him off for diving. Real Madrid have missed their star and they’ve lost four points in two home games in La Liga. Luckily, Cristiano Ronaldo is back to face APOEL on Wednesday in the debut in the Champions League.
During this time, Cristiano Ronaldo scored a superb goal in the Santiago Bernabéu Trophy against Fiorentina and a hat-trick with Portugal against Faroe Islands. Therefore, the Portuguese looks very fit in this start of the season, but Real Madrid cannot take advantage of this situation because of the ban received after El Clásico.
Unfortunately for Zidane, Cristiano Ronaldo’s absence has turned into a huge problem. Los Blancos missed a lot of chances against Valencia, especially Benzema, and they couldn’t win that game. Against Levante, Benzema got injured, Bale had to play with pain as a forward and they were able to score the winning goal. Perhaps with Cristiano in the team, the situation would have been different.
Real Madrid supporters are already missing Morata and thinking if the club would regret selling him this summer. With Benzema out for at least one month and Gareth Bale far from his best fit, Cristiano Ronaldo becomes essential in this team. Borja Mayoral doesn’t look ready to fill the gap in the attacking line, so Zidane has to come up with some ideas to face Real Sociedad next week.
At least, Cristiano Ronaldo will be present against APOEL. Next weekend it will be a problem because Benzema and Cristiano are absent, so Zidane has to invent something in the attacking line, with Lucas Vázquez or Asensio as wingers, and Bale as the centre forward.
