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Madrid coach: No one player can replace Ronaldo

The pressure of filling Cristiano Ronaldo's boots at Real Madrid is too much for a single person, new coach Julen Lopetegui said on Saturday.

Madrid coach: No one player can replace Ronaldo
Real Madrid's new coach Julen Lopetegui said on Saturday that the whole team would have to step up. Photo: Javier Soriano / AFP
The club have yet to sign a direct replacement for the Portuguese superstar, who switched to Juventus in July after scoring 450 goals in 438 games over nine seasons at the club.
   
“Instead of asking who will score those goals we need to challenge ourselves by scoring more than that as a team,” Lopetegui said.
   
“The whole team will have to score all those goals (that Ronaldo scored) between them. Score more goals and concede less of them.”
   
Madrid boast Welsh winger Gareth Bale, French striker Karim Benzema and rising 22-year-old Marco Asensio in their forward line but have just five days of the current Spanish transfer window left if they are to buy a new striker.
   
Some reports have said Real are waiting to see if they can lure World Cup sensation Kylian Mbappe away from Paris Saint-Germain.
   
“It would be useless to put that terrible pressure (of replacing Ronaldo) on one person, it would be a sword of Damocles,” Lopetegui said.
   
“We have a wonderful squad and I'm delighted with all of them because I can see they are ready to give everything to win the league and all the other competitions,” he said.

HAIR

Ronaldo thanks his Spanish fans… with a hair transplant clinic

Cristiano Ronaldo said that his decision to open a hair transplant clinic in Madrid was his way of thanking "the people who love me" after spending the best part of a decade at Real Madrid

Ronaldo thanks his Spanish fans... with a hair transplant clinic

The 34-year-old Portuguese star opened Insparya hair implant centre in the Spanish capital in March even though he has been a Juventus player since last year.

“The Spanish people treated me well, I wanted to thank them by giving them work,” Ronaldo told El Pais newspaper in an article published Friday.  

“I know that the people love me, they know that I gave a lot to the club (Real) and that they also gave me a lot.”   

Ronaldo, who won two La Liga and four European Champions League titles with Real, said that he hasn't ruled out becoming a coach when his playing days are over but still has his critics to defy.

“I see football as a mission: to be on the field, to win, to improve, I feel extra pressure, people always judge, they say it's over, that I'm 33, 34 or 35, and I should stop,” added the five-time Ballon d'Or winner.

READ ALSO: Cristiano Ronaldo pranks Madrid as homeless man

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