Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the greatest players of all time. From breaking onto the main stage at Sporting Lisbon and Manchester United to dominating the world with Real Madrid, the Portuguese striker was always the centre of attention. He is a natural goalscorer, which was shown when he scored his 900th career goal in September 2024.
At every club he’s been at, he’s succeeded, with his confidence, cockiness and sheer natural talent guiding each club to new heights. Naturally, all of it’s comparative, but everyone can appreciate his talent. Ronaldo is most famous for his spell at Real Madrid, where he spent nine years and became the club’s all-time top goalscorer.
Everything he touched seemed to turn to gold, especially when he won the Champions League four times with them. However, the end of his spell in the Spanish capital had a sour ending, with the Portuguese superstar having differing views from those who sat at the top. As Ronaldo continues to break records, we have gone down memory lane to outline the reasons why Real Madrid’s greatest-ever player left the club.
Why Cristiano Ronaldo Left Real Madrid
He had differing views with Florentino Perez
In 2018, Real Madrid had just beaten Liverpool 3-1 in the Champions League final. It meant they became champions of Europe for the third year in a row, but Ronaldo was not the hero, as Gareth Bale instead scored two goals in the final to seal victory. After dominating the world, everything seemed to be rosy at the club, but – behind the facade – cracks were showing.
Ronaldo left Real Madrid in the summer to join Juventus for £85m, which was the highest fee for a club ever. It was later revealed in the years after that the former Sporting Lisbon star switched Madrid for Turin due to differing opinions with club President Florentino Perez at the time. Initially, the club claimed the transfer had been instigated ‘at the will and the request of the player’, but, in an interview with France Football in October 2018, Ronaldo said Perez’s views made it clear he should leave.
“I felt it inside the club, especially from the president, that they no longer considered me the same way that they did in the start. In the first four or five years there, I had the feeling of being ‘Cristiano Ronaldo’. Less afterwards. The president looked at me through eyes that didn’t want to say the same thing, as if I was no longer indispensable to them,” he stated.
“That’s what made me think about leaving. Sometimes I’d look at the news, where they were saying I was asking to leave. There was a bit of that, but the truth is, I always had the impression the president would not hold me back.”
Cristiano Ronaldo Also Wanted a New Challenge
The striker has always been focused on winning
However, that wasn’t the only reason why Ronaldo opted to depart Real Madrid. After winning everything possible and Zinedine Zidane departed the club as manager, Ronaldo wanted a new challenge. “He wanted a change and to improve his contract, so he found it at Juventus and everyone was happy,” Florentino Perez told Onda Cero in May 2019.
It is directly linked to the superstar’s mentality on and off the pitch. As the greatest Portuguese player of all time, Ronaldo has always been focused on winning both individually and as a team. He’s 39 years old and still playing for his country at the moment, whilst his spell at Juventus also saw him succeed.
During a three-year stint from 2018 to 2021, Ronaldo won Serie A twice and the Coppa Italia once. He never managed to get his hands on the Champions League again, but it provided a new setting and challenge to succeed from the beginning. In his words during the same interview with France Football, it was never about money.
“If it had all been about money, I’d have moved to China, where I would have earned five times as much as here [at Juventus] or at Real. I did not come to Juve for the money. I earned the same in Madrid, if not more. The difference is that, at Juve, they really wanted me. They told me that and made it clear,” he outlined.