CRISTIANO RONALDO has said that the balance of power in European football has shifted to Spain. The former Manchester United winger suggested that one of the reasons was that star players enjoyed greater protection from referees in La Liga.
The Portuguese, who will be introduced as Real Madrid’s €93 million world record signing at the Bernabeu tonight, made no secret of his dissatisfaction at what he perceived to be rough treatment from Premier League opponents during his six years at Old Trafford.
Alex Ferguson, his manager at Old Trafford, had even hinted that Ronaldo might be driven away from England if he was not better protected from bad challenges.
Ronaldo has switched to Real together with Kaka from Milan and the previous holder of the Fifa award. Karim Benzema and Raul Albiol have also signed, from Lyon and Valencia, as part of a spending spree of close to €230 million by Florentino Perez, the returning Real president, who has set about fulfilling his election promise of a “spectacular sporting project” to restore the Spanish club to the top, after a number of years of underachievement, particularly in the Champions League.
“The Premier League is a very good competition,” said Ronaldo, “but I think that the Spanish league is going to have a little more quality because of the players that are arriving. Both leagues are going to be very good but I think that with Florentino Perez’s signings, the Spanish league is superior to the English.
“It’s going to be a magnificent competition in Spain this year. All the players have a lot of quality and the referees protect the players more.”
Spain’s resurgence was sparked by the success of their national team at Euro 2008 and confirmed by Barcelona’s European Cup final victory over Ronaldo’s United in May.
The 24-year-old claims to have fulfilled a dream by joining the club he supported as a boy and he has one eye on next season’s Champions League final, which will be staged at the Bernabeu.
“To win the Champions League in our stadium would be a great dream,” he said. “I think it’s possible with all the players we have.
However, you need to recognise that the champions, Barca, had a great season and played very well. They have a great team and a magnificent coach.
“We are going to take it step by step. The priority is the league. The Champions League is very nice but it also depends on luck and the ties that you get. It’s going to be a difficult mission to get the double, although I think we are going to do well in both the league and Europe. My hope is to win at Real Madrid everything that I won during my time at Manchester United.
With the structure Real Madrid have, this is possible.”
