Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane broke off
his holiday to call Cristiano Ronaldo in a bid to persuade his unsettled star not to quit the club, Spanish sports daily Marca claimed on Sunday.
Ronaldo, on Confederations Cup duty in Russia
with Portugal, is reportedly furious over a tax
probe into the off shore accounts dealing with
his image rights, and has reportedly vowed to
leave Spain.
"I am leaving Real Madrid," Marca claim Ronaldo told his Portuguese colleagues. "I have made a decision. There is no turning back," the daily sports paper reported.
According to Marca when Zidane heard Ronaldo had sworn to quit he broke off from his family holiday and called his No7 to tell him Madrid "needed him for his goals, and also his winning mentality".
Marca also reported that club captain Sergio
Ramos had called Ronaldo to ask him to stay.
In just 265 games for Real Madrid Ronaldo has scored 285 goals, winning three Champions League finals in four seasons.
The 32-year-old Ronaldo is the latest football
superstar to come under scrutiny for tax
evasion after Lionel Messi was handed a 2.1-
million-euro ($2.3 million) fine last year for
avoiding paying taxes on part of the income
he earned from image rights via companies in
Belize, Britain, Switzerland and Uruguay.
Ronaldo is accused of defrauding the authorities of 14.7 million euros in tax through offshore companies.
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