Worth A Click: Ronaldo’s birthday causes uproar

Cristiano-Ronaldo;-Real-Madrid;-Schalke

Cristiano Ronaldo. (Andres Kudacki/AP)

Sportsnet’s “Worth A Click” column aggregates some of the best soccer content on the Internet, and news stories you may have missed.

Ronaldo and As The World Turns

As if being spanked 4-0 by Atletico Madrid wasn’t bad enough, Ronaldo and his Real Madrid teammates are being crucified by the Madrid media.

Hours after Saturday’s shocking drubbing at the hands of Atletico, Ronaldo celebrated his 30th birthday in a Madrid restaurant. Of course, the evening had a celebratory mood to it, and included Ronaldo singing. Nothing wrong with that, right? I mean, Ronaldo had planned this party for months and guests flew from all around the world to attend.

Well, wouldn’t you know it, a video of the proceedings was uploaded to YouTube:

Cue the moral outrage in the Madrid media, with Marca, the city’s leading sports daily, calling out Ronaldo and his teammates for having too good of a time so soon after suffering that humiliating los to Atletico.

But it didn’t end there.

A small group of Real Madrid fans on Tuesday headed to Valdebebas, Real Madrid’s training facility, to express their outrage. Two supporters held up a banner that read “Your laughter, our shame,” referencing Ronaldo’s birthday party.

Van Gaal takes aim at Big Sam

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal during a Tuesday media conference produced a dossier of statistics in order to respond to claims by West Ham that the team relies on long balls.

After Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Old Trafford, West Ham manager Sam Allardyce called van Gaal’s side “Long-ball United.”

The Dutch manager didn’t take too kindly to that characterization, and he went so far as supplying reporters with a pamphlet filled with statistics to back up his stance.

And you just have to love the look on the face of the Manchester United press officer:

Eurosport.com on Twitter

Moyes needs to brush up on his Spanish

We don’t mean to pick on David Moyes. You have to applaud any British manager who tries his hand at coaching a team abroad as Moyes is doing with Real Sociedad in La Liga.

But the Scotsman’s pronunciation of Spanish team names is atrocious: Levante, Granada, Ball-bayo…

By “Ball-bayo,” he meant Athletic Bilbao, which is pronounced Bill-bow.

Nasiruddin on Twitter

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