Former Real Madrid star Steve Mcmanaman says the club has a tough job to compete with Barcelona over the next couple of years because Cristiano Ronaldo is the ‘wrong side of 30’.
The 31-year-old is Real’s all-time leading scorer and continues to be the lead marksman for the side. But Mcmanaman believes over the next couple of seasons, Los Blancos will find the going tough to keep up with the Catalans, who have Leo Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez all in their prime.
Real have won just one league title in the past eight years with the Nou Camp side having dominated on the domestic front.
And speaking to Omnisport, Mcmanaman says he believes they will continue to be the team to beat in Spain. He added though that Real should stick with boss Zinedine Zidane as he is the right man to lead the club forward over the next few years.
“I think Zizou will be a wonderful coach, I really do, but the fact that he is chasing down this Barcelona side – it is going to be very, very difficult for them because the best player at Real by a long way is Ronaldo and he is 31 now,” he stated.
And he added: “Whether he is coming to the end of his superpowers I don’t know but he is certainly the wrong end of 30, while Barca seem to be getting better and better to be very honest. The team that are formed at Barcelona at this moment are wonderful so I think it is going to be very hard for Real Madrid to catch them in the near future, certainly over these next couple of years.”
