Real Madrid are threatening even without Ronaldo: Ter Stegen

Kolkata, August 3: For a team that was centred around one great player for nine seasons, the life for Real Madrid without Cristiano Ronaldo will be tough to handle.

However, El Clasico rival and Barcelona keeper Marc Andre ter Stegen believes that Madrid are equally good even now as they were when they had Ronaldo in their ranks.

A staggering 450 goals in 438 games for Madrid shows just how lethal Ronaldo was at the Spanish capital. And though Barcelona will be happy that such a strike force is finally out of their rivals, Ter Stegen is not under-estimating the existing quality that Madrid possess.

"I think they have an amazing team, like every year, just like us," Ter Stegen was quoted as saying by AS. "It'll be equally difficult to play against them with or without Ronaldo.

"You have to understand that this is a player who made the difference in a lot of games, but we focus ourselves on our game and we know that, if we're confident, we have the chance to do it all."

The 33-year-old built up an impressive record against Barca during his time in Spain with his strike in May's 2-2 draw at Camp Nou taking him level with Alfredo Di Stefano on 18 Clasico goals.

In his fifth season at Camp Nou, the German shot stopper has cemented his place as Barcelona No. 1 for quite sometime in the future now. In fact, with the departure of Andres Iniesta, Ter Stegen could have Lionel Messi’s role as vice-captain, now that the Argentinian is certain to take over captaincy for Valverde’s men.

"It's something that the squad will decide, but it's an honour that my name is being talked about for the captaincy position. It would be an honour to be one of the captains, of course it would. But for me it's not the most important thing. We need more than four captains," said the Germany keeper.