Cristiano Ronaldo renews contract with Real Madrid

 Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo has renewed his contract with the club, which had been due to expire in 2015, the Spanish giants said today.

The Portuguese international will attend a ceremony at 1:45 pm (1145 GMT) with Real president Florentino Perez at Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu stadium to mark the renewal of his contract, the club said on its website.

Real Madrid did not give details of the contract extention, but the online edition of sports daily Marca said the 28-year-old playmaker had renewed with the club until 2018.

Ronaldo will earn 17 million euros per season under his new contract, one million euros more per season than his main rival Lionel Messi makes at Barcelona, the newspaper said.

"This renewal is expected to make Ronaldo the highest-paid player in Spanish football," it said.

Ronaldo had been linked with a move to big-spending French clubs Paris Saint-Germain and Monaco in the close season as Real pursued their interest in Gareth Bale.

The Wales winger's transfer from Tottenham was finally sealed at the start of September for a  reported world record fee of around £80 million ($124 million, 94 million euros) and he made his debut for the club playing alongside Ronaldo in Saturday's 2-2 draw at Villareal.