Benitez: Ronaldo will continue to take free kicks

Real Madrid coach Rafael Benitez has stressed that he has no intention of stripping Cristiano Ronaldo off his free-kick duties following his underwhelming record from set pieces.

The Portugal international scored just twice from 33 attempts in La Liga in 2014-15 and has yet to find the net from a set piece this term after six free kicks.

Ronaldo once more failed to hit the target from a free kick in the 1-0 win over Granada on Saturday, yet Benitez continues to back his star man.

“We practice free-kicks in training every now and then and Ronaldo finds the net plenty of times,” Benitez said at a press conference.

“You have to believe in him and know that he will eventually score more goals from free-kicks again.

“Of course, James Rodriguez and Gareth Bale can also take free-kicks, but they were not there against Granada.

“We all believe in Cristiano.”

Real have yet to concede in an official game this term and Benitez was quick to praise goalkeeper Keylor Navas after he kept yet another clean sheet on Saturday.

“We have been very strong in defence. But we have to improve. We cannot afford to give away two or three chances,” he added.

“Keylor has done very well to solve any problematic situations. That he has kept five clean sheets means he been doing a lot of things very well. But we must keep on working to improve.”