Football
ESPN staff 8y

Cristiano Ronaldo misses Carlo Ancelotti, wishes to reunite again

Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo has said that he misses Carlo Ancelotti and would love to play under the Italian again during his career.

Ronaldo, 30, scored 48 goals in 35 games in the 2013-14 season and won the Champions League under Ancelotti before the manager was sacked and Rafa Benitez brought in this summer.

Ancelotti, who has taken a year out of the game, has been linked with a move to Manchester United to replace Louis van Gaal, while Ronaldo's future has also been subject of speculation with his former club top of the agenda. And the Portugal international insists he would love to continue their relationship.

"Mr. Ancelotti was an unbelievable surprise. In the beginning I though he was more a tough person, more... kind of arrogant , and it was the opposite," Ronaldo told ESPN.

"He's like a big bear, I can say. He's a cute guy, such a sensitive person. He spoke with us every day. Not just with me but with all the players. He had fun with us.

"He's an unbelievable person. I just wish every player could have an opportunity to work with him because he's a fantastic guy, a fantastic coach and I miss him a lot because we won many trophies together. And I wish to work with him one day again. But now I'm good. I have a new coach and I'm happy too, but it's great I have good memories."

Ronaldo, who arrived at the Bernabeu in 2008 for a then-world record fee of £80 million, has seen five managers take charge of the club and the forward wants to see some stability.

"Sometimes it is not easy. If you keep changing all the time it's hard," he added. "I don't like when they change, or they sell or buy players every year, or they change coach every year. Because I think sometimes you need time to know each other, to know the coaches.

"It's only the way that you can improve yourself in terms of individual or collective too. For the team to be consistent. To change all the time is difficult because you have to adapt to other players have to adapt to you. So it's hard.

"I'm not a huge fan of when they change all the time but it's part of the business. The market is like that. They sell, they buy players. So you have to adapt to that. And Real Madrid is a club that buys a player every year, so we have to adapt to that."

Ronaldo has come under fire this season for some of his performances -- despite scoring 21 goals in 20 games -- and speculation has suggested that he is not happy with Benitez's tactics compared to that of Ancelotti.

"It's always different. Not just those two coaches but all the coaches," Ronaldo said. "When it was [Jose] Mourinho or Alex Ferguson, [Manuel] Pellegrini. Everyone has his own style, own system, and we still adapt.

"For example, now to Benitez's style. But I think I feel comfortable because most of the time I play my position, so for me it is not going to be a big deal. I feel comfortable anytime on the pitch. I play free always and I feel good."

Ronaldo also revealed that he is doing his best to learn from every coach he comes into contact with.

"I just try to take the most important things of every coach," he said. "Not just Sir Alex Ferguson, but Pellegrini, Mourinho, Ancelotti and now with Benitez and the national team coaches too.

"I think everyone has different styles and different opinions. They are different people. So I just pick the best things of them. I am the player that I am today because of course the coaches helped me a lot."

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