Gary Lineker has rebuffed a claim that Karim Benzema was the reason behind Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo's supposed decline.
Since returning to the Premier League, there has been a lot of discussions surrounding the Portuguese talisman's capability to perform in the English top-flight after ending his 12-year hiatus. The Real Madrid star, on the other hand, has gone from strength to strength for Carlo Ancelotti's side and has established himself at the top of the goalscorers chart in the Champions League and La Liga.
The former Barcelona forward was answering fans tweets for LaLiga TV and Football JOE, the original tweet read: "He made Ronaldo better. Ronaldo declined after Benzema left. Benzema improved after Ronaldo left. Simple."
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"Not that simple, I don't think.," the Match of the Day presenter argued. "First you've got to remember that Ronaldo is getting on a bit now so he was always going to decline and the same will happen to Benzema at some point.
"Because the same happens to all us footballers. We all decline at some point and Ronaldo still went on to score lots of goals, both at Juventus and even this season at 37 years old.
"But I do agree that Benzema had to play second fiddle to Ronaldo and therefore has stepped us since Ronaldo left and has improved. I'll give you that."
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