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If the rumours are to be believed, it seems Cristiano Ronaldo and Rafa Benitez had a frayed relationship during the latter's time at Real Madrid earlier this season.

Benitez replaced Carlo Ancelotti at the Santiago Bernabeu in summer and lasted only a matter of months before being sacked and replaced by Zinedine Zidane in January.

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And it turns out his relationship with Madrid's star player, three-time Ballon d'Or winner Ronaldo, was strained from the beginning, according to El Pais (via Sport), over something as minor as a pen drive.

Reportedly, the Spaniard sent a pen drive to Ronaldo with instructions on how to lose his marker, to which the Portuguese responded: "Tell Benitez that I will get him a pen drive with all my goals on it for him to study."

On this basis, it doesn't come as too much of a surprise that Benitez's time in Madrid was a rocky one.

[Sport]