Cristiano Ronaldo has made a bold prediction about who he thinks will win this year’s Champions League as he picked up two awards at the Dubai Global Soccer Awards.
The Portuguese icon has lifted the prestigious trophy five times in a glittering career. He first tasted glory with Manchester United in the 2007-08 final against Chelsea.
He then won the Champions League four times with Real Madrid, a club where he scored no fewer than 450 goals in 438 games in nine years.
Ronaldo has continued his goalscoring exploits since leaving the Bernabeu in 2018, scoring 101 times for Juventus and 74 times for current club Al-Nassr to date.
Last night he collected gongs for the Middle East’s best player and all-time top scorer at a glitzy gala to mark the Dubai Global Soccer Awards.
And after taking to the stage, he gave his thoughts on some of the biggest talking points in football and backed one of his former sides to win the Champions League in May.
Cristiano Ronaldo has made a bold prediction about who will win the Champions League
The Portuguese won the famous trophy four times with Los Blancos between 2009 and 2018
His old team is having a hard time in the tournament this season and is dangerously in twentieth place
The 39-year-old said: ‘Teams always have their good and bad moments. Now Manchester City have gone through a bad moment, but they will come back.
‘I would tell City to their players to show more and not talk now. The big players know where the problem is.
‘As for Madrid, in the end they are always there, you can never leave them for dead. I bet Real Madrid will win the Champions League again because all the other teams are scared when they play Madrid at the Bernabéu.
‘I would bet on Madrid because they always come back. They had problems at first, but then they got better.”
Real currently sit 20th in the Champions League with just nine points in six games, putting them in the 9th-24th play-off zone.
They have had a tough season in the competition synonymous with them, but recorded a confidence-boosting win over Atalanta earlier this month.
Ronaldo also shed light on the managerial talents of Real boss Carlo Ancelotti, who coached the Portuguese at Los Blancos between 2013 and 2015.
“When people ask me why Carlo is a good coach, I always say he knows how to negotiate with players one by one,” he added.
Real boss Carlo Ancelotti has been under fire lately, but Ronaldo defended him
He won two titles at the Dubai Global Soccer Awards after scoring a string of goals for Al-Nassr
Ronaldo also claimed he could be the man to turn around Manchester United’s fortunes
‘That’s the key to success, so it’s no coincidence that he won everything. He is not only a good man, but also a very intelligent man.’
In a remarkably revealing interview, so does the legend incredibly threw the idea of returning to Manchester United for a third stint – but this time as club owner.
He also backed Ruben Amorim by pointing out that his compatriot is not responsible for the Old Trafford club’s current problems.
Amorim is starting to feel the pressure after United dropped to 14th in the Premier League following a 2-0 defeat at Wolves on Boxing Day, but Ronaldo has hinted he knows what needs to be done to wake the sleeping giants.
Speaking on Friday, Ronaldo stressed that a major overhaul would be needed to return the club to its former glory.
‘[The] The Premier League is the toughest league in the world,” he said.
“All teams are good, all teams fight, all teams run, all teams are strong. Football is different now. There are no easy games anymore.
“They need it, I said this a year and a half ago, and I’ll keep saying it, the problem isn’t with the coaches, it’s like… I always give this example… it’s like an aquarium.
The 39-year-old appeared at the Globe Soccer Awards ceremony on Friday accompanied by his partner, Georgina Rodriguez.
Ronaldo’s ill-fated return to United ended bitterly in 2022 after he publicly criticized the way the club was managed.
‘If you get the fish in and it’s sick and you take it out and you solve the problem and you put it back in an aquarium, you get sick again.
‘Manchester United’s problem is the same. The problem does not always lie with the coach. It’s much more than that.’
As well as highlighting the problems he believes have stagnated the club in recent years, Ronaldo also made the bold claim that he personally could be the man to solve them.
He continued: ‘If I become the owner of the club, I will make things clear and change things that are bad there.’