Ronaldo still a youngster after bagging Marca award

Ronaldo still a youngster after bagging Marca award

Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo joked that he is still a youngster after winning Marca’s La Liga Player of the Year for last season.

The Portuguese captain penned a new five-year deal earlier in the day, and says he still wants to achieve more despite a 2016 which saw UEFA Champions League and Euro 2016 success.

“As I said this morning, it was an emotional year, winning the Champions League and then the Euros with Portugal, signing my new contract this morning, this award.

What more can I say? Obviously I’m very happy, content, this will give me the motivation to work harder for the years that I have left ahead of me,” Ronaldo said.

“I’m still a youngster. I see it (the league) the same as always, very competitive, but like I always say, this is not a sprint, it’s a marathon, at a collective and individual level. We’re here fighting again, a new season, new challenges and we’ll be there in the mix as always.”

Atletico Madrid head coach Diego Simeone, who won manager of the year, believes the international break came at a good time for his players after two defeats in three league matches.

“What’s happening is that we’ve played teams who’ve played better than us, when your opponent plays better than you, you can lose, this is a game where the best team doesn’t always win, and it’s the team that plays the best who win. The other day Real Sociedad played better than Atletico Madrid and they won the game.

“I think that coincidences don’t exist in football, yes we have a great squad, but they’ll be judged on results, on winning titles or not in the future. We have players who have a lot to prove, who can still improve a lot and compete at the highest level.

“We’re showing that in the Champions League where we’ve already qualified for the next round which is important for the club, and we’re fighting for La Liga the way we’ve been fighting in these past few years,” Simeone said.

-Stall drop-

The Argentine hopes it will stall his side’s drop in form which has seen them fall to fourth in the standings.

“Sometimes the breaks are good, sometimes they’re bad. They’re great when you lose! Worse when you’re winning because you have that enthusiasm and momentum that winning brings. When you lose it’s good to stall the ball, relax a bit to get a break, everyone comes back next Thursday happy and we get back to it together to play again on Saturday.”

Alvaro Morata claimed Spain’s player of the year award, with the former Juventus striker outlining his desire to finish the end of the campaign near team-mate Ronaldo’s goals tally.

Tags:

Atletico Madrid Diego Simeone Real Madrid Spain Cristiano Ronaldo La Liga football Alvaro Morata interview Preview news Global Football

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