No stopping Ronaldo

Portsmouth goalkeeper David James admits he and other custodians are helpless when faced with Cristiano Ronaldo's free-kicks.

The Portuguese winger hammered a superb 25-yard set piece past the former England goalkeeper last Saturday, and James concedes he had no answer to the 22-year-old's shot.

James admitted: "He is a b*****d! He hits an unbelievable ball and as soon as you go to try and save it, it’s in the back of your net."

“You know when he steps up he is going to absolutely spank it but you cannot read the flight of the ball. He puts no swerve on it but when he strikes it well, he hits with so much power there is only place it is going to end up.”

James revealed that he had taken special preparations to combat Ronaldo's set-piece prowess, but was still unable to prevent the goal.

He confided: “I tried to do some work on saving free-kicks in training on Friday because I know how deadly he can be but there is no way you can stop him."

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