‘Real’s opponents used to be scared due to Ronaldo’

Former Real Madrid coach has found the reason for Real Madrid’s difficulties this season as they failed to make a mark in domestic and international competitions. He claimed that Real’s opponents were not as scared of playing the Los Blancos as they used to be.

“I always say, that Real Madrid and Barcelona start matches winning 1-0 and if you want to beat them you have to score at least two goals,” he said at the World Soccer Congress.

“This year Madrid have lacked the 1-0, and have started at 0-0 like the others and that's why they have faced so many difficulties.”

“Now we see what is happening at Juventus with Cristiano [Ronaldo] as, with the Portuguese, the opposition defenders were very scared before and now they are not,” he said.

While Barcelona are in the running for winning domestic and international competitions, Real have floundered. In matches where they should have steamrolled the opposition Real failed to find players who could provide the final product in terms of goals while their collective game was lackluster under both Julen Lopetegui and Santiago Solari since Frenchman Zinedine Zidane’s departure.

Capello was taken aback by Zinedine Zidane's return to Madrid, but believes that the Frenchman will have the upper hand. “[Zidane's return] has surprised me a lot to say the truth,” he added.

“I think that now he has more power than before, because when he joined the club for the first time it was Florentino Perez who put him on the job and now it was [Perez] who asked him to go back.

“Zidane is the one who knows about the transfers, as there are three good players they can sign and they know who those players are.”