Former Real Madrid coach criticizes Ronaldo: “It smelled of alcohol”

It is not the first time that the Italian coach Fabio Capello comments negatively on the behavior of Ronaldo Fenômeno during his playing days. Still, the former commander of Real Madrid he returned to criticizing the Brazilian because of his off-field attitudes and telling stories from the time he trained him.

“One day Ruud van Nistelrooy arrived and said to me: “Sir, the changing room here smelled of alcohol”. Was he right“, said Capello, who continued: “In February 2007, I decided to fire Ronaldo. He was someone who liked to party and involved the whole group. Ronaldo weighed 94 kilos that year. In the 2002 World Cup, he weighed 82. I asked him to lose weight, but he reached 92.5.”

The speech was made in a talk given by the former football commander, who continued talking about moments with the Phenomenon in his career. Despite having released him from Madrid, the Italian ended up meeting the center forward again at Milan, through a curious story with the club’s then president, Silvio Berlusconi.

“(Silvio) Berlusconi called me one day to ask for advice on a hypothetical purchase. I advised him against it, I said that (Ronaldo) was a party boy, who only thought about women. Berlusconi told me: “Thank you, Fabio.“The next day, Ronaldo was at Milan”, said Fabio Capello at the time.

Despite having given Ronaldo as the main example, the commander didn’t just have problems with the Brazilian, having stated that with his compatriot, Cassano, he lost control. The main reason was the player’s diet, who according to Capello, “ordered fries before every game”.