‘He was like a mirror’ – Prem flop who was sacked after sex scandal reveals how ‘similar’ he and Cristiano Ronaldo were

A FORMER Premier League flop has claimed that Cristiano Ronaldo was “like a mirror” to him when he was coming through the ranks at Real Madrid.

The star has claimed that he and Ronaldo were “similar”, but reckons the media hyped him up a bit more than he should have been.

Jese Rodriguez, now 31, was destined for greatness when he broke into the Real Madrid first team back in 2012.

However the tricky winger never managed to live up to his hype and is now playing for Malaysian first division side Johor DT.

Jese, who had a brief and unsuccessful spell in the Prem with Stoke City, has opened up about his early comparisons to Ronaldo as a youngster.

The Spaniard, who played alongside CR7 in the Spanish capital, told YouTuber Mowlihawk: “It’s true that Cristiano and I had similar aspects, but the press exaggerated a lot.

“For me, he was like a mirror. I wanted to win everything he had won.

“He was someone who imposed himself a lot with his serious and professional attitude.”

A professional attitude may have ultimately been the downfall of Jese who struggled to balance his input on the pitch with controversy off of it.

The former Real Betis and Sporting forward saw his time with Paris Saint-Germain brought to an early end after he was SACKED following a sex scandal.

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Jese had been accused of cheating on his partner with her model friend, while he had been photographed breaking Covid-19 social distancing rules.

The storm of controversies reportedly led PSG chief Nasser Al-Khelaifi to grow tired of Jese’s off-field antics “staining” the club.

As such Jese was released from the Parisians six months before the end of his contract.

Jese spent almost four years on the books at PSG, but only managed to make 18 appearances in that time.

Prior to joining PSG Jese spent nine years at Real Madrid where he made 94 appearances and played under Jose Mourinho.

His career has seen him have spells in England, Turkey, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Brazil and now Malaysia.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk