Ronaldo has hit out at the way Real Madrid
and the media handled events surrounding his recent engagement
celebration but says he is anxious to put the controversy behind him
ahead of Tuesday's Champions League tie against Juventus.
"I haven't got any apologies to make," the Brazilian told a news
conference at the Bernabeu on Monday.
"I'm a professional and a very responsible person. In the last
two weeks even the sporting press have turned into gossip magazines the
way they have reported my events surrounding my wedding."
The 28-year-old striker hit the headlines last week when he threw a
lavish Valentine's Day party at a secluded French chateau to mark his
engagement to Brazilian model Daniella Cicarelli.
He returned from the celebrations with an injury to his big toe and
arrived late for training two days in succession.
"I don't want to justify any mistakes I made last week," he said.
"But if I make mistakes I want to sort them out directly with the club
and not find out through the press.
"I read in the papers on the Wednesday
that I would be fined, but I wasn't told by the club until I met with
them on Thursday and I still haven't received anything official yet."
"I've always been very careful to sort out any problems behind
closed doors and face to face with the club, but this time I found
everything in the press first."
Ronaldo added that it was unfair to accuse him of choosing an
inconvenient time for the party because it had been the club who had
suggested the date.
"I originally thought that January 2 would be the best date, but
it was the club that told me that February 14 would be more suitable."
The striker was dropped to the bench for Saturday's league game against
Athletic Bilbao.
He came on as a second-half substitute, but contributed little and was
unable to stop the Basques putting an end to Real's seven-match wining
streak by claiming a 2-0 victory at the Bernabeu.
But Ronaldo said he did not see Luxemburgo's decision to leave him out
of the starting line-up as retaliation for his behaviour.
"The boss said he wanted to rest some of us all before the game
against Juventus, so I'm not taking it as a punishment. My main concern
now is to make sure we win on Tuesday.
"It's decisive match and I haven't scored for three or four games and
I'm really keen to get on the score sheet again. We have to get a good
result here because the return leg will be very tough indeed."