Former Real Madrid playmaker Mesut Ozil has slammed Cristiano Ronaldo’s critics, insisting that they want to get attention with the forward’s big name.

Ozil said this in a series of tweets via his Twitter handle on Friday.

The former Arsenal midfielder was defending Ronaldo, who has come under heavy criticism in the past few days amid the ongoing FIFA World Cup.

Ozil wrote: “I really don’t get where this constant negativity from the press about Cristiano comes from... The media is just trying to get clicks, and pundits who don’t have a career anymore just want to get attention with his big name and try to make him look bad…”

“He is soon to be 38 years old—so what’s the surprise that he doesn’t score 50 goals a season anymore?" Every football fan out there should be happy to have seen him play world-class football for 20 years.

Ozil played three seasons from 2010 to 2013 with Ronaldo at Real Madrid.