Cristiano Ronaldo goes 38 days without scoring at the Bernabéu
The Real Madrid number seven has set such high standards that even just a few games without him giving home fans the chance to celebrate is noticed. Athletic Bilbao next up.
38 days and counting
The Bernabéu hopes to stand up and cheer as another Cristiano strike hits the back of the net tomorrow evening. But something that became so commonplace has recently been in more scarce supply. The last time that the Portuguese star struck in front of the home fans was the 14 September when he scored direct from a free-kick to draw level against Sporting Lisbon. Four days prior to that he had opened the scoring against Osasuna after just five minutes in the league - 42 days ago.
Since that goal against Lisbon, Los Blancos´ number seven has failed to score against Villarreal and Eibar in LaLiga Santander and Legia Warsaw in the Champions League in front of his home supporters. The last time he went as long as this without scoring was back in April 2015 - the opposition being Atlético in Europe and league opponents of Almería and Vañencia.
Homely expectations
It just goes to show the standards that the player has set for himself when expectations are so high. Fans travel from all over the world to see games at the Bernabéu and many hope to see that now famous celebration. The fact that he has only scored four out of the Madrid's 34 this season (11.7%) shows that their reliance on his goals is either less than before or maybe just that they need him to get back to his old ways quickly. Athlétic Bilbao will be hoping that doesn't start this weekend although with 16 goals in his 14 games against them...
AS English will be bringing you live commentary of Real Madrid vs Athletic Bilbao from the Santiago Bernabéu on Sunday 23 October from 20:45 CEST.
