Cristiano Ronaldo‘s brag that he has won five Champions League titles compared to Atletico Madrid’s zero has received a frosty response from the club’s president Enrique Cerezo.
Atletico’s 2-0 defeat of Ronaldo’s Juventus in the first leg of their last-16 Champions League tie led the former Real Madrid superstar to show off about his successes in the competition.
Walking through the mixed zone after goals from Diego Godin and Jose Gimenez earned Atletico a 2-0 win at the Wanda Metropolitano on Wednesday, Ronaldo held up his hand.
“I won five Champions Leagues and these guys zero,” he told reporters.
Ronaldo helped to down Atletico in the 2014 and 2016 finals, which were each level after 90 minutes, Los Blancos going on to win those titles in extra time and on penalties respectively.
Cerezo, though, does not think Madrid’s victories over Atletico in those two Champions League finals should count towards Ronaldo’s personal tally.
“For me, Cristiano doesn’t have five Champions Leagues,” the Atletico president told Italian radio station Radio CRC. “He has three and for one very simple reason: Both against Atletico Madrid he didn’t win.”
Cerezo, who reportedly left his seat during Wednesday’s win after a VAR decision went against Atletico, was unwilling to share why he believes that to be the case.
“Who won them? That we’ll talk about in the next interview,” he added.
Cerezo also commented on the celebration of Atletico coach Diego Simeone, who grabbed his crotch and later apologised for the gesture, claiming he did it “to show our fans that we have cojones”.
“It was a moment of joy,” Cerezo said. “I understand the reaction of Cholo [Simeone] – who, by the way, was not being offensive towards Juventus. He was referring to our fans.”