Cristiano Ronaldo rows back on his arrogant comments following Atletico Madrid loss

Backtracking.

Cristiano Ronaldo's perceived arrogance and petulance following Real Madrid's 1-0 loss to Atletico Madrid on Saturday bordered on self-parody. "When you don't have your best players, it is hard to win," Ronaldo said. "If you don't have Karim (Benzema), Pepe and (Gareth) Bale, it's more complicated. I like to play with Karim, Bale, Marcelo." "If everyone was at my level, maybe we would be leaders."However, Ronaldo backtracked somewhat on his comments in another post-game interview. The 31 year old claimed that he was referring to his teammate's physical condition in comparison to his own, and wasn't speaking disparagingly of their abilities, but he's still not exactly being complimentary of them. "When I say that I mean the physical level, no game. I am not better than any of my teammates," Ronaldo is quoted as saying by Marca.