Real Madrid star striker Cristiano Ronaldo has launched a blistering tirade on his teammates after his side suffered a 1-0 defeat to local rivals Atletico Madrid in their La Liga clash at the Bernabeu.
Reflecting on his team's performance, the Portuguese international claimed, "If we were all at my level, maybe we would be leaders." He subsequently downplayed his comments saying that he was referring to his "physical level".
Ronaldo also rued the absence of injured first choice players like Gareth Bale, Marcelo, Pepe and Karim Benzema, who trudged back to the pavilion at half-time with a hip problem.
While maintaining that constant injuries to players are adversely affecting the team's chances in the league, Ronaldo insisted that it becomes harder to win games in the absence of the best players, news.com.au reported.
Antoine Griezmann scored the decisive goal in the 53rd minute as Atletico strengthened their grip on second place in the Spanish league and stretched their lead over Real to four points.