Ronaldo motivated by challenge of maintaining form

Cristiano Ronaldo says the challenge of maintaining his incredible goalscoring form is serving as his main motivation in a difficult season for Real Madrid.

Ronaldo has 35 goals in all competitions this season but Real are well off the pace in the Liga title race,  sitting 12 points behind leaders Barca.

The Portugal international last week attracted criticism when – after a 1-0 defeat to rivals Atletico Madrid – he said: “If everyone was at my level, perhaps we would be first.” 

He also appeared to suggest the likes of Jese, Lucas Vazquez and Mateo Kovacic were not of the standard required to win La Liga.

He has since insisted his comments were related to fitness levels and were “misinterpreted”.

Mardid’s main chance of silverware is in the Champions League, with Zinedine Zidane’s men holding a 2-0 lead going into Tuesday’s last-16 second-leg clash with Roma.

Speaking at the presentation of his fragrance, Cristiano Ronaldo Legacy, the former Manchester United star said: “Talent means nothing without hard work. I want to keep up my momentum.

“I think my level is the same in the last 10 years. I just want to keep doing the same with Real Madrid, winning trophies for the team as well as individual prizes so that my fans can be happy with Cristiano. That’s my motivation.

“We had a really good performance in Roma with two goals but now [there] is going to be another game at home. We have a good advantage but you can not trust, we have to win playing well to get the next Champions League round. That’s what we want.”