Cristiano Ronaldo's former Real Madrid teammate Mesut Ozil has come to Portugal forward's defense after he was subjected to a lot of criticism during the ongoing FIFA World Cup 2022 campaign.
Ronaldo is not having the best of World Cups with Portugal as the 37-year-old has managed to score one goal in his team's four World Cup encounters so far. After he was dropped to the bench in the last game, there were reports that Ronaldo wanted to leave the squad and return home, but these rumours were subsequently quashed by Coach Fernando Santos and Ronaldo himself.
Speaking against the negative media scrutiny Ronaldo has been subjected to, Ozil hit out at the press.
"I really don't get where this constant negativity from the press about Cristiano comes from... The Media is just trying to get clicks, and pundits who don't have a career anymore just want to get attention with his big name and try to make him look bad... He is soon 38 years old - so what's the surprise that he doesn't score 50 goals a season anymore? Every football fan out there should be happy to have seen him playing world-class football for 20 years." Mesut Ozil tweeted.
"I don't think anyone from the new generation will be able to match his numbers again. He will forever be in his own category. Everyone should show more respect to one of the greatest athletes in sports history." he further added.
Ozil has had a fair share of success with Cristiano Ronaldo during his time at Real Madrid and thinks highly of him both as a person and as a player.
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