“It seems they will expel me from the club” - Marcelo opens up on his refusal to apologise to Cristiano Ronaldo over spat in 2008
Marcelo has recently opened up about the spat he had with Cristiano Ronaldo before the Portugal captain's move to Real Madrid.
Ronaldo completed a move from Manchester United to Real Madrid in 2009 for a reported fee of €94 million. The sum was a world record at that point. However, just a month before Ronaldo's move, the duo had a spat.
Portugal were defeated 2-6 by Brazil in a friendly game. In the 81st minute of the match, Ronaldo and Marcelo had a confrontation and the former even held the full-back by the throat.
When Ronaldo joined Los Blancos, Marcelo felt that his time in the Spanish capital would come to an end. Instead, they went on to form one of the most lethal on-field partnerships and off-field friendships.
Recalling the incident, Marcelo recently said on the Podpah Podcast:
"A month ago I quarreled with him, and now they are signing him. It seems that they [Real Madrid] will expel me from the club, but we didn't apologize to each other. So what happened happened and it was part of the match, and we did not talk about it."
Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcelo played 332 games as teammates and combined for 33 goals. Marcelo's delightful crosses from the left flank often found Ronaldo with pinpoint accuracy. The Portugal captain barely made any mistake in burying them in an immaculate manner.
Marcelo says that famous Cristiano Ronaldo goal was offside
Speaking on the same podcast, Marcelo said that Cristiano Ronaldo's hat-trick goal against Bayern Munich in the 2016-17 Champions League quarter-final was offside.
Ronaldo scored a brace in the first leg in Munich to hand Los Blancos a come-from-behind victory. In the second leg, Ronaldo scored one in regulation time after Robert Lewandowski handed Bayern the lead. However, Sergio Ramos scored an own goal and the game headed to extra time.
Ronaldo scored twice in extra time and Marco Asensio found the back of the net to seal a resounding 4-2 (agg. 6-3) victory for Zinedine Zidane's team. Marcelo assisted the Portuguese's hat-trick goal in the 109th minute. The Brazilian has now agreed that it was an offside goal.
Marcelo dribbled five players before putting it on a plate for Ronaldo. Speaking about it, he said (via Forbes):
"It was offside, it was. But go and complain now."
He further said:
"I knew it was offside. I thought 'oh my god.' I saw the linesman, I saw him running, and I took a breath."
When asked why he chose to pass to Cristiano Ronaldo after such a tantalizing run, he said that because he spotted the five-time Ballon d'Or winner.