Marcelo has played down Cristiano Ronaldo’s mini-drought after Real Madrid’s 0-0 draw with Malaga on Saturday, simply insisting “the ball didn’t want to go in”.
The Portuguese squandered a considerable number of Los Blancos’ 31 attempts at Carlos Kameni to leave him without any goals in five of his side’s opening six League matches, but the left-back – who wore the captain’s armband in Sergio Ramos absence – does not see any reason to panic.
“[Ronaldo] not scoring isn’t a problem,” he said after the game.
“We’re not worried. Cristiano always scores, but it wasn’t just him.
“We all had chances, but the ball didn’t want to go in and the goalkeeper stopped everything [which went his way].
“We wanted the three points and tried to get them in every possible way – out wide, through the middle, from set-pieces – but the ball didn’t want to go in.
“[On Madrid’s two disallowed goals], referees can fail like players, but I won’t say whether [the officials] failed. This is football.
“The match in Bilbao was difficult. We had to put a lot of intensity into that game, and it took its toll on us [on Saturday].
“We have to keep fighting in order to win again.”
