Real Madrid would be top if everyone was like me, rages Cristiano Ronaldo

February 28, 2016

Madrid, Feb 28: Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo claimed the Spanish giants would be top of La Liga rather than nine points behind Barcelona if his team-mates matched his standards.

ronaldoRonaldo had a day to forget in front of goal as Real waved goodbye to any lasting hope of mounting a title challenge in a 1-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid on Saturday with even coach Zinedine Zidane admitting their challenge was over.

"If everyone was at my level, we would be top," said Ronaldo.

"Every year according to the press it seems I am rubbish, but the numbers and statistics don`t lie."

Madrid have endured a season from hell as Zidane replaced the sacked Rafael Benitez in January, whilst the club has suffered a series of institutional embarrassments, including being eliminated from the Copa del Rey for fielding an ineligible player.

The final whistle was met by a chorus of discontent from the home fans as they called for president Florentino Perez to resign.

A mounting injury list has also taken its toll as they were without Gareth Bale, Marcelo and Pepe, and Karim Benzema had to be replaced by 18-year-old Borja Mayoral at half-time.

And Ronaldo claimed that, despite Perez`s multi-million euro investment, Madrid don`t have a good enough squad to compete at the top level.

"I don`t want to undervalue any of my teammates, but when the best aren`t there it is difficult to win."

"I like to play with Pepe, Karim, Bale, Marcelo. I don`t want to say that Jese (Rodriguez), Lucas (Vazquez), (Mateo) Kovavic are not good players, they are very good, but to win a competition you need the best."Defeat was Zidane`s first in nine games since taking charge last month and he admitted that he had been shocked by his side`s poor display.

"Today is a big blow. To lose at home to Atletico is difficult to take," said the Frenchman. "I didn`t expect the game we saw today.

"The league is over. It was already difficult and I said yesterday if you drop more points it is even more so.

"We`re not just going to throw the league away because whatever happens we have goals, games to play and things to win. That is the idea we have to have going forward."

Victory meant Atletico became the first visiting side ever to win three consecutive league games at the Bernabeu and solidified their position in second, four points ahead of Real.

"Today we were Atletico Madrid. There is no better example of what we are than what we showed today," said coach Diego Simeone.

"Once again the fans of Atletico Madrid can feel immensely proud of their players."

Simeone`s men trail Barcelona by five points, but the European champions can regain their eight-point advantage when they host Sevilla on Sunday.

"Barcelona are very good, it is difficult to see them losing three games," added Simeone.

"We have to focus on our own objective which was to finish in the top three, but everyone wants to finish as high as possible."

Atletico`s title bid has been hampered by a lack of goals in recent games, but Antoine Griezmann ended a five-game drought to slot home his 20th of the season early in the second half.

"I`m happy on a personal level and also for the team," said Griezmann.

"We played a great game, we very solid at the back and, although we didn`t have many chances, one of them went in."

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Agencies
January 5,2020

Mumbai, Jan 5: India captain Virat Kohli has refrained from making any comments on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), without gaining full knowledge on the sensitive subject.

The CAA will grant Indian nationality to people belonging to minority communities -- Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians -- in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan after six years of residence in India instead of 12, even if they don't possess any proper document.

In 2016, Kohli had termed demonetisation as the "greatest move in history of Indian politics", which met with sharp criticism from a lot of quarters, with people questioning his knowledge on the subject.

With Guwahati witnessing massive protests against the CAA till some days back, Kohli was asked about it and the Indian skipper weighed his words carefully.

"On the issue, I do not want to be irresponsible and speak on something that has, you know, radical opinions both sides. I need to have total information, total knowledge of what it means and what is going on and then be responsible to give my opinion on it," Kohli said ahead of India's first T20 International against Sri Lanka.

The skipper made it clear that he will not like to get embroiled in a controversy by commenting on a subject that he is not well aware of.

"Because you can say one thing and then someone can say another thing. So, I would not like to get involved in something that I don't have total knowledge of and it's not going to be responsible on my part to comment on it." However Kohli on his part was happy with the security arrangements and felt that the city is "absolutely safe".

"The city is absolutely safe. We didn't see any problems on the roads," Kohli said, giving his thumbs-up for the match at the Barsapara Stadium.

The Assam Cricket Association is using this match as a "curtain-raiser" ahead of their maiden IPL match this season as Rajasthan Royals have adopted this venue.

There has been deployment of Rapid Action Force for the teams and ACA secretary Devajit Saikia has said the spectators will not even be allowed to bring along handkerchiefs and towels on the match-day as the traditional Assamese scarf was used for protests against CAA.

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News Network
May 24,2020

Melbourne, May 24: Former Australia captain Mark Taylor does not foresee the T20 World Cup scheduled in October-November going ahead and wants the ICC to take a decision during its Board meeting this week.

Taylor also feels that if IPL takes place during the window the T20 World Cup was to be held, the Australian players are likely to be cleared by their Board to take part in the cash-rich league in India.

The ICC Board meets on May 28 to discuss a host of issues related to COVID-19 pandemic, including a revamped schedule and the fate of the men's T20 World Cup in Australia.

For latest updates and live news on coronavirus, click here

"My feeling is the World T20 won't go ahead in Australia in October as planned. Is it going to be viable to have a world tournament in October or November? The answer to that is probably no," Taylor, also a former Cricket Australia (CA) director, was quoted as saying by 'Nine Network'.

"It would probably be good (if a decision is made this week). Because then everyone can start planning and we can stop sitting here and saying 'well ifs, buts or maybes'."

CA chief executive Kevin Roberts has said that a call on the fate of the T20 World Cup, scheduled to be held from October 18 to November 15, may potentially not come until August.

Read: Coronavirus India update: State-wise total number of confirmed cases, deaths

But players and administrators around the world are keen for some certainty and many have predicted that the 16-team event will soon be postponed.

There are reports that the BCCI is eyeing the October window for the IPL though officially it maintained, that it will not consider new dates of the cash-rich league until the T20 World Cup's fate is decided.

Taylor said the CA wants to keep BCCI happy so the Australia players are likely to be cleared for the IPL if it happens in October.

Pat Cummins, who was bought for a record amount of Rs 15.50 crore in last year's IPL auction, is among the Australians keen to take part in this year's competition.

"The Cricket Australia board will want to keep India happy. So they may want to let the players go to India if the IPL goes ahead," Taylor said.

"Because they want India to come here this summer and play, which will be our biggest summer in terms of dollars. That's the sort of discussion going on. No doubt."

Virat Kohli's team is scheduled to arrive in Australia for a Test tour starting November, which will go along way in addressing CA's financial woes triggered by teh COVID-19 pandemic.

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Agencies
June 8,2020

New Delhi, Jun 8: Indian pacer S Sreesanth has slammed England all-rounder Ben Stokes for questioning MS Dhoni's intent during a World Cup match, saying that the former captain will end Stokes' career.

Stokes in his book titled 'On Fire' had questioned Dhoni's intent during India's 31-run defeat at the hands of England in the premier tournament last year.

"For Ben Stokes, I will only say that you should pray that Dhoni does not play against you in the future. Dhoni does not forget things easily," Sreesanth said during a Live session on Helo.

"I wish Stokes all the best for whenever he faces Dhoni again, be it IPL or an England vs India match. You must be earning in millions now, Dhoni Bhai will end your career. Dhoni will strike the ball everywhere and he (Stokes) can never dismiss Dhoni. Before he (Stokes) opens his mouth, he should make sure to wear a helmet," he added.

Former West Indies pacer Michael Holding had also come out in support of Dhoni and said that the wicket-keeper batsman wanted to win the match against England.

"Well, people will write anything in books these days, because people are a lot more free with their opinions and when they are writing books, they need to be making headlines at times," Holding had said on his official YouTube channel.

"...It was not the game that India had to win, but I don't think anyone can say that was a team tactic to lose the game. I watched that game and it appeared to me as if India weren't putting up their 100 percent, but I realised it was not the case when the expression on MS Dhoni's face told me that he desperately wanted to win, so I do not think it was a team decision to not try to win," he had added.

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