Valdano: More to Madrid than Ronaldo

Posted Saturday, October 29, 2011 by ESPN

Former Real Madrid sporting director Jorge Valdano insists the club are not too reliant on star player Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ronaldo picked up the Pichichi award for scoring the most league goals in the Spanish top flight last term after besting the previously unbeaten mark of 38 goals set by Telmo Zarra and Hugo Sanchez.

However, Valdano feels there is more to Jose Mourinho's side than the Portuguese attacker.

"Ronaldo is capable of scoring two or three goals per game after moments of individual brilliance," Valdano told Marca.
"However, the best thing about this Madrid is that they are still a great team if Ronaldo is not at his best.

"Their style of play is much more direct than Barcelona's. They don't give defences any time to regroup, and need only three passes to reach the opponents' goal. They have made a lot of progress since last season."

Real Madrid currently sit second in La Liga after defeating Villarreal 3-0 in midweek with Karim Benzema, Angel Di Maria and Kaka the scorers.

It was Madrid's seventh straight win and continued an interesting trend regarding their Brazil international Kaka. Real Madrid always win when he scores.

Kaka has scored 20 goals in 65 apperances for the club in three seasons and Real have won all of the 17 games in which he's scored (15 in La Liga, 2 in the Champions League).

Real play Real Sociedad in La Liga on Saturday.