Odd couple Ronaldo and Kaka linking up at the right time (Feature)

By Duncan Shaw Feb 15, 2010, 8:48 GMT

Madrid - Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka are learning how to play together, at just the right time.

On Tuesday they will line up together for Real Madrid in the Champions League round of 16 clash away to Olympique Lyon.

Lyon coach Claude Puel said on Sunday that 'Real Madrid is much more than Ronaldo and Kaka,' but he is clearly worried about these two stars in particular - after what he saw on Saturday in Xerez.

Kaka twice set up Ronaldo to score in the 3-0 win.

Real paid around 160 million euros (218.21 million dollars) for the talented pair in summer, as part of the plan of club president Florentino Perez to bring the world's top players to the Estadio Bernabeu.

Perez wants Ronaldo and Kaka to make Real the world's leading club side again, an accolade that the whites have lost in the last few years.

Real have not won the Champions League since 2002 - whilst historic rivals Barcelona have won it twice in the last four years - and have failed to get beyond the round of 16 since 2004.

Until now, Ronaldo and Kaka have not linked up well together, for various reasons.

Ronaldo missed most of the autumn with a badly twisted right ankle, whilst Kaka struggled to reproduce his AC Milan form in Madrid.

Just when the Brazilian was starting to feel comfortable in Manuel Pellegrini's 4-4-2, in December, he was out for two months with a niggling pubis injury.

And just when Kaka returned, three weeks ago, Ronaldo got himself sent off against Malaga and was banned for two matches.

On Saturday, however, they finally hit it off together, at the expense of hapless Xerez.

Kaka set up Ronaldo to head in Real's second goal and then, just two minutes later, set up another goal on a plate for the Portuguese winger instead of trying to score himself.

The talented twosome embraced euphorically - then praised each other to the skies.

Kaka said that 'the friendship that we have off the field makes itself felt on the field. The two of us get on well together, and it's really lovely to play alongside him.'

Ronaldo, for his part, said that 'Kaka was very generous tonight...he is really easy to play with, because he always has his head up, looking to see who he can set up.'

Possibly the only other Champions League side that can boast such a priceless partnership up front is Barcelona, with Lionel Messi and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Ronaldo and Kaka are desperate to reclaim the FIFA World Player award from Messi. Kaka won it in 2007, Ronaldo in 2008, Messi in 2009.

Ronaldo and Kaka clearly have different lifestyles.

Ronaldo is the wild playboy of Planet Football, and his affairs - such as his brief summer fling with Paris Hilton - are front-page news across the globe.

Kaka, in contrast, is a devout Christian homeboy, happy to stay in at night with wife Caroline and young daughter Luca.

Chalk and cheese off the field, then, but dynamite when they link up together for Real.

It is an 'odd couple' partnership that just might put the whites back on top of world football.