Ronaldo bet team-mates that he'd score more than Messi
This confidence in is own remarkable means may well have been instrumental to his success, if the latest anecdote provided by Marca is any indication.
​According to the Media Group’s Radio Show El Transistor, it appears that the four-time Champions League winner bet his own team-mates that he would overtake Lionel Messi and be the season’s best scorer. This was at a time when he had barely got off the mark, back in November, when many were wondering whether he had lost his scoring touch.
The former Manchester United legend was eleven goals behind Lionel Messi, who had recently put four past Eibar. The odds were apparently at 12/1.
​Journalist Jose Ramon de la Morena claims that C-Ron did this in order to motivate himself and the team. Real have improved since, and Ronaldo is catching up with Messi.
He has since scored 21 goals in the campaign to the Argentine’s 13.
Messi now has 25, and Ronaldo 22. Luis Suarez is, incidentally, just behind on 21, and is a former Pichichi himself. Christian Stuani, formerly of Middlesbrough, has notched an incredible 17 for Girona.
Having netted four goals at the weekend against minnows Girona, Ronaldo has his sights set on Champions League glory and the Pichichi trophy, but not La Liga, where his side is still 11 points behind Los Cules.