Former Real Madrid manager: Ronaldo never lost weight
Former Real Madrid manager Fabio Capello talked about his his two spells at Santiago Bernabéu, including an overweight Ronaldo and pressure as Los Blancos boss.
The Italian revealed that Brazilian World Cup winner Ronaldo endured fitness issues, and struggled to stay in the shape.
“Look, he weighed 96kg. I asked ‘how much did you weigh when you won the World Cup [in 2002].
Former Real Madrid manager: Ronaldo never lost weight
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“84kg he said. ‘Can you go down to 90kg at least?’ And he didn’t…
“It was a Madrid of words, not work. They were good players, but they weren’t connected. It was difficult. They had cliques…
When people ask me the best player I’ve worked with, I always say Ronaldo. Ronaldo was awesome, the best by far. Him and [Marco] van Basten.
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“When Madrid signed Marcelo, Fernando Gago and Gonzalo Higuain, all very young, Ramon Calderon said ‘why don’t you play them?’ I replied ‘don’t worry, they’re the future fortune of Madrid,’” he revealed.
“The only problem I had with Lorenzo Sanz is because he wanted his son to play. And Fernando is a good kid. He trained perfectly. But his father insisted he play, and that couldn’t happen.”
“! They started to say it when I won the first title at Milan, all games were 1-0, 1-0, 1-0,” he protested.
“But look at my first year at Madrid. I only played Redondo in midfield. Next to him was Clarence Seedorf, the playmaker. Victor was wide, Raul and either Pedrag Miajtovic and Davor Suker up front. Is that defensive?
“[In 2006-07] we couldn’t move the ball [with Emerson and Lassana Diarra], no. We were missing quality, but that was what I had. And we had problems with some of the players, such as Ronaldo. When he was sold, the team changed.
“I talked to the team to try and win the last 11, 12 games, and we did. We won the title because people started to move and press more.
“My first Madrid team was high quality, a very serious team. They were a team of men. [Fernando] Hierro, Raul, [Bodo] Illgner as well…there were a lot of men. Mijatovic, Suker, Redondo.
“They were all leaders of character, they were determined to win. They wanted to suffer, to train…”