World Soccer Presents - Rise of Ronaldo (2022)

28 RISEOFRONALDO

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You’vejusthadyourfirstserious

injury.Lastyear, theBelgian

goalkeeperStijnStijnensaidhe

wouldtryto breakyourlegs.

Yes,hetriedtointimidateme.

Butit wasnoproblembecause

I scoredtwogoals!

Haveyou ever beenintimidated

byanopposingplayer?

Tobehonest,I’mnever afraidof

football. Of someotherthings,

yesI am afraid,butinfootball

I’mnotafraidofanything.

But it doeshappenquite

a lotdoesn’t it?

It’snormal.Thepaperstryto talkabout

itbutitdoesn’tworkonme.Myfocus

isalwaystoplaywell. WhenI step onto

thepitchI switchmy mindonandI

don’tthinkaboutwhatpeoplesayabout

me.IftheysaythatCristianoRonaldo

doesn’tdefendI don’tthinkabout them.

I trytoconcentrate on my ownjob.

You have mentionedyourfamily,

butwho elsehasbeenimportant

inyourcareer?

Everyone.Everycoach hashelped

me.Theplayers,the directors,my

friends– theyhaveallhelpedme

andmademewhatI am today.

Was it importantforyoutohave

Portuguese peoplesuchasCarlos

Queirozwithyou in Manchester?

WhenI arrivedtherenobody spoke

Portuguese.Now,nineortenplayers

canspeakPortuguese. There aresome

Brazilians,somefromAngola.It’snice

tohearPortugueseon thepitch,in

thegym.It’s alwaysnice.

Are there lots of differentlanguages

spokeninthe dressing roomat

ManchesterUnited?

MostoftheplayersspeakEnglish.It’s

onlyme,NaniandAndersonwhospeak

Portugueseregularly.Wecanmake

funoftheEnglishbecausethey

don’tspeakPortuguese!

Sometimesdefendersget

upsetwhenyou make funof

themonthepitch. Is it partof

yourcharactertoshowthat

youarea topplayer?

I’vealwaysplayed like that.You didn’t

getanopportunitytosee me whenI

wassix,seven,eightyearsold.Some

peoplewhoknew me thensay it’s the

RIGHT:Leap...Ronaldo

iscatapulted

intotheair

ABOVE:Mates...Carlos

TevezandRonaldo

FACETOFACE