Ex-England boss names ‘greatest player’ who he wanted rid of and blamed diet
Fabio Capello came across Ronaldo when he had a spell in charge of Real Madrid and has lauded the Brazilian’s quality, but admits he went to the president and demanded he was sold
Former England boss Fabio Capello has labelled Ronaldo as ‘the best player I’ve ever coached’ – but went to the Real Madrid hierarchy and insisted they had to get rid of the Brazilian sensation, with his weight and constant partying too much.
Capello had two stints at Real and in his second, a decade on from his first, he crossed paths with Ronaldo as the striker edged towards the end of his career. Ronaldo was signed from Inter Milan in 2002, just after he’d delivered his country’s fifth World Cup.
His mercurial ability had been clear since he was a teenager and he scored with regularity wherever he went. Ronaldo produced 104 goals in 177 games for the Spanish giants, but only one of those came in his final year with Capello at the helm.
The Brazilian was sold to AC Milan in January – a decision ultimately made by the Italian manager. Capello was known for his disciplinarian style and eventually demanded to president Ramon Calderon that Ronaldo was sold.
He told AS: “Ronaldo is the best player I’ve ever coached. He was a guy who loved to go out partying every night, he was crazy, he weighed 94 kilos and didn’t want to lose weight. At one point I told the president that we had to let him go, there was no hope of moving forward. And so we let him go. But, I repeat, he’s the best I’ve ever coached.”
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Real had signed Ruud van Nistelrooy in 2006 when Capello rocked up, which was a sign that Ronaldo was about to be phased out. The World Cup winner, who also won the Ballon d’Or on two occasions, concedes he was regularly partying, often heading to training soon after.
“I was at all of them. I played on Saturday and then went to Paris. I spent Sunday in Paris and went to the party at night,” he told Charla Podcast. “At seven in the morning, I caught the plane to Madrid and arrived at nine in the morning with training at ten. I did this many times.”
Ronaldo, though, maintains his work rate never dipped while he was in Madrid, albeit he ultimately failed to deliver the trophies expected in Spain. He claimed the La Liga title in his first year but that was the only major piece of silverware he would win at Real.
The club were outshone by Valencia and then Barcelona as they endured a wait for the league title. That was eventually ended by Capello, who helped them become champions in his one and only year back. He was axed with his playing style cited as an issue.
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