Adebayor Says Ronaldo Would Have Made Real Madrid Favourites Against Manchester City

Former Real Madrid and Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor believes Cristiano Ronaldo’s presence would have made the Spanish giants favourites to overturn their Champions League deficit against Manchester City.

Real Madrid lost 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu in the first leg of their last-16 tie before the coronavirus pandemic forced the competition to be suspended.

Zinedine Zidane’s side returned from the shutdown in excellent form, winning 10 of their final 11 La Liga matches to secure their first league title since the 2016-17 season.

Adebayor said Madrid still had enough quality and experience to challenge City, but admitted Ronaldo’s departure had significantly reduced their attacking threat.

“If you had asked me that question two years ago, I would have said yes,” Adebayor told AS when asked if Madrid could turn the tie around.

“Madrid would have been favourites with Cristiano. Back then, they had Cristiano, who is a goal machine.”

Adebayor said Ronaldo’s ability to decide matches and consistently score large numbers of goals made him extremely difficult to replace.

“He can make the difference at any moment and he would give the team 50 goals a season,” he said.

The former Togo international acknowledged that Madrid faced a difficult task after losing the first leg at home, especially with the return match being played without supporters.

However, he insisted the tie was not over.

“Madrid have players with a lot of experience like Marcelo, Karim Benzema and Thibaut Courtois, and they are used to playing in big games like this one,” Adebayor said.

Ronaldo left Real Madrid for Juventus in 2018 after nine highly successful seasons in Spain, during which he became the club’s all-time leading goalscorer and helped them win four Champions League titles.

Adebayor suggested Madrid had underestimated just how difficult it would be to replace a player of Ronaldo’s quality and influence.