Football

Unrest deepens at Madrid as players turn against Ronaldo

Published

9 years ago

on

January 10, 2018

By

Feyijimi Emmanuel

By Boluwatife Ezekiel Olaleye

Real Madrid stars are reportedly turning against Cristiano Ronaldo as the dressing room unrest at the Bernabeu deepens.

Zinedine Zidane’s men are 16 points behind Barcelona in the title race following a dismal start to the campaign.

Ronaldo scooped his fifth Ballon d’Or in 2017 but the Portuguese star has managed just four league goals for his club and has come under fire for his poor form.

ALSO SEE: Arsenal and Liverpool dealt major blow as Barca star doesn’t want to leave Barcelona

And it has been claimed that Ronaldo’s teammates are unhappy with the 32-year-old.

Diario Gol says Isco, Marcos Asensio, Lucas Vazquez, Dani Ceballos and Sergio Ramos have all grown tired of the former Manchester United star’s ego.

Meanwhile, Zidane has ruled out any January reinforcements, despite their struggles.

Related Topics:Cristiano Ronaldo Dani Ceballos Isco Lucas Vazquez Marcos Asensio Real Madrid FC Sergio Ramos

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Arsenal and Liverpool dealt major blow as Barca star doesn’t want to leave Barcelona

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Vote-buying remains a major concern One of the strongest warnings from Osun was the continued presence of vote-buying and voter inducement. Yiaga Africa said the results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were consistent with its independent statistical projections, but cautioned that this did not remove concerns about the integrity of voters' choices amid reports of vote-buying and inducement. The concern is particularly significant ahead of 2027, when political competition will take place nationwide and involve presidential, National Assembly and state-level contests. The International Republican Institute (IRI), following a pre-election assessment mission conducted in August, identified monetised political competition, election-related violence, insecurity and declining public confidence in INEC among the structural challenges facing the 2027 elections. 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The institute urged security agencies to identify high-risk areas early and develop location-specific plans to prevent intimidation, disruption and attacks on electoral participants. Osun offers lessons ahead of 2027 Despite the challenges, observers say the Osun election also provides evidence that improvements in election administration can produce positive results. Yiaga Africa's assessment found that INEC and security agencies largely passed the test of conducting the election, while its independent verification indicated that the official results accurately reflected the ballots counted at polling units. The challenge ahead is to build on those gains while addressing the weaknesses exposed during the election. For INEC, that means improving BVAS reliability, strengthening result-transmission and collation procedures and maintaining clear communication with voters and political parties. 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With Nigeria's 2027 general elections scheduled for January 16, 2027, the Osun experience provides both a warning and an opportunity: the country has made progress in electoral transparency, but vote-buying, insecurity and declining trust must be confronted before they are magnified across a nationwide election.

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