Mourinho face up to life without Cristiano
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E-mail Xinhua, March 6, 2011
Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho this Saturday faced up to life without striker Cristiano Ronaldo in his side.
Ronaldo has scored 27 goals in the BBVA Primera Liga this season and until he limped off the pitch with a muscle injury in his left leg on Thursday night, he had played every minute of every league game this season.
Now he will be absent from Sunday's game away to Racing Santander and the home game against Hercules the following weekend.
"Cristiano is Cristiano and he is too important for us to say we won't miss him or that we have the same potential without him," said Mourinho in his pre-game press conference broadcast on Gol TV in Spain.
"However, we do have more players who are motivated to do as well as possible and the fact that Cristiano is not going to play doesn't change our objective," added the Madrid coach.
Racing Santander are unbeaten since Marcelino Garcia replaced Miguel Angel Portugal as coach last month and conditions in their El Sardinero ground promise to be complicated after the bad weather that has affected Spain in recent days.
"It is going to be a very difficult match against a side that is playing well and which is full of confidence and comfortable at home, but we are not going to change our objective," said Mourinho, who also made reference to how unpopular Ronaldo is with other fans.
"Cristiano Ronaldo is not going to play and they always insult him away from home. Probably people hate him and so it is bad for them that he is not going to play," he added.
Mourinho also defended himself from criticism that Ronaldo was injured because he had not been rested this season.
"Fernando Gago was injured training, while Alvaro Arbeloa was injured while he was at home. Cristiano was injured playing and scoring a goal. Gago got injured without playing matches, so you get injured when you have to get injured. Cristiano hadn't given signs of looking tired and had just scored a hat-trick. You can et injured at any moment," said Mourinho.
