Football
Dermot Corrigan, Madrid correspondent 8y

Cristiano Ronaldo 'cannot behave like a defender' - Portugal coach Santos

Portugal coach Fernando Santos says that he cannot play Cristiano Ronaldo as an out-and-out centre-forward, or as a winger, to ensure that the superstar's "egotistical" drive for goals is best put to the service of the team.

Ronaldo, 30, who has already played more than 700 senior games, has kept up his phenomenal goal-scoring return through recent times by becoming more of a penalty area specialist.

Marca has reported that of Ronaldo's 61 goals over the 2014-15 season, just five came from outside the penalty area, with 13 coming from the penalty spot and 14 from inside the six-yard box.

Real Madrid coach Rafa Benitez started the 2015-16 season with Ronaldo in his customary roving left wing role, however an injury to Blancos No. 9 Karim Benzema has seen the former Manchester United player feature at centre-forward through recent weeks -- and AS says that nine of his 12 goals so far this campaign have been first-time finishes from close range.

The former Sporting Lisbon and Greece coach said in quotes reported by the EFE news agency that he had designed a system for the Portuguese side which saw Ronaldo as one of two central attackers in a 4-4-2 and gave the national captain few defensive obligations.

"If I had a Benzema, I would think about it, but I believe it is better to play to with two mobile forwards," Santos said. "I am looking for a solution to strengthen Cristiano with the characteristics of my players. You cannot either ask Cristiano to play as a winger in defence because, he makes such an effort attacking, being the best player in the world, the most prolific goal scorer, he cannot behave like a defender."

Ronaldo's characteristics mean he has never been an easy player to pigeonhole into one position, Santos said.

"[Ronaldo] will never be a target man, a classic No. 9, with his back to the goal inside the area, holding it up," Santos said. "Just as he is not a classic winger, as [Luis] Figo was. Cristiano performs best when he comes in from the wing towards the centre."

Santos, who was briefly Ronaldo's coach at Sporting Lisbon prior to the 2003 move to Manchester United, said selfishness to win and to score goals had always been part of the player's make-up, but it was a selfishness put to the benefit of the team.

"When I coached him at Sporting when he was 18 years old he was the same as today -- a natural winner," Santos said. "He has an egotism in the good sense of the word as in 'I want to win' and 'I want to be the best.' This type of selfishness, is it bad? I believe not. Cristiano is who he is because he has this way of being. I have never seen Cristiano angry when the team won and he did not score."

Many pundits have claimed over the years that a personal battle with Barcelona's Lionel Messi has made both players stronger, but Santos said that Ronaldo's main motivation had always come from inside.

"What makes Cristiano better is his battle against himself," he said. "When I met him first, Messi had not yet started out. Cristiano had fantastic potential, the same level as Eusebio, but I told him that he was a bit weak in the air. The next day I saw him practicing his heading again and again. Besides, you cannot compare geniuses. They are two giants."

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