Cristiano Ronaldo Stormed Out Of A Press Conference

Yesterday, Cristiano Ronaldo held a press conference in advance of Real Madrid’s first leg tie against Roma in the Champions League Round of 16. These pressers are usually fairly predictable— players and technical staff more or less know what’s going to be asked, and reporters more or less know what kind of responses they’ll get. It’s all very routine.

Can you sense the foreshadowing?

At some point during the press conference a reporter mentioned to Ronaldo that he hasn’t scored away from home since November (a La Liga fixture at Eibar, which Real Madrid won 2-0). The reporter followed up by asking why that might be.

Ronaldo, clearly aggravated, spat back his indignation at having his scoring record questioned. “Who else has scored more goals away from home than me since I arrived in Spain? Name one player who has scored more than me?” A tense pause followed before he continued, “No answer? OK. Thank you everyone.”

Ronaldo then proceeded to throw a bottle of hair gel in frustration stand up and leave the conference with a flounce.

This is one of those instances where how you feel about the story depends entirely on how you already felt about the subject. If you didn’t particularly care for Ronaldo before, if you thought he was a temperamental prima donna, then this episode just confirms what you already believed. If you’re a CR7 fan, you probably thought the reporter was out of line and/or his away goal slump is overblown. At the risk of indulging in a little golden mean fallacy, both arguments probably have some merit.

Incidentally, Real Madrid kick off against Roma today at 2:45pm EST on FS1.