Ronaldo in a French mag with exclusive interview

 
CR arrived with his grey Porsche Cayenne with tainted windows. He is almost on time in a junior suite hotel in Manchester to give this interview.
He arrives with many people: Manuela (PR), Nuno (his cousin that help to translate & call himself “nono the little robot” , Jorges , his personal photographer & a friend). Shy , Cristiano says that he will not speak in English. So we start talking in English & Portuguese with the help of Nuno….after 10 minutes, Cristiano will feel better & will speak in English….

-Do you remember crying when Ronald Regan passed away on June 5,2004?
(Surprised by the question, he turns towards Nuno for the translation)…Of course not! My father & mother admired him… that’s why I got the Ronaldo part of my name … But Ronald Reagan was their hero, not mine.

-Do you feel closer to the President Ronald Regan OR to the actor of the 40’s?Neither one or the other! I think my dad liked them both… like an “the American dream” & he liked his look & his “cool” attitude

-Your parents did not help you by giving you the same name of another famous football player?(falsely stunned)….You are talking about Ronaldinho, hein?! (everybody burst outlaughing !)…no, seriously, I mam not Ronaldo(from Brazil) I am Cristiano Ronaldo….That is the way people know me & call me.

But when you type on the internet "ronaldo" most of the link are about the other Ronaldo....Marketing & image wise, isn't it a problem for you?-I like my name. I like wearing shirts written Ronaldo on my back. This ambiguity never crossed my mind, since there is no ambiguity for me. I am not jaleous of somebody with the same name than mine. BTW I never thought about it until you asked.


Do you think you won the “Ronaldo’s war”? you shin in Manchester utd & Ronaldo (put aside by Fabio Capello) is now in AC Milan?
What I want to accomplish is to let a RONALDO trademark & impact in the football world…. I do not define myself in regards of another Ronaldo.

-How would you explain your changes in your game during this last fall….did you become a more realistic player?
This is because of the daily training I do with Sir Alex Fergusson & Carlos Queiroz…. & I learned a lot with Luis Felipe Scolari as well. This is not an explosion, a burst, but a change towards maturity. A normal development. Everyday I get more mature & I have the chance to play for a great team. I have one goal : increasing my performances during a game & in particular scoring. Fergusson & Scolari, both had a essential influence on my game & helped me to make it less complicated, more simple.

You grew up fast I the adult world without worries…. Arsene Wenger say also about you:"Ronaldo comes from this generation who gets mature without being aware of it, without fears, without doubts"
Maybe… I tried to stay relax, nature. The WC2006 helped me a lot that way during the game against Netherland & UK in particular… & if Arsene Wenger said that about me, I take it as a compliment… He is a great coach,a great teacher.What he said sounds like what I want to achieve: being adult without any knowledge of fears or doubts.

-What do you have in mind when you dribble ?
Nothing, I just play & it is very natural for me …II was born that way. This is my style, my life. In my mind I just think about giving the best of me & stay focused.

But still, when you pass two or three opponents, don't you see yourself as a successful "torero/toreador"?
(he laughs!) I like this image, but I don;t think that way. When I dribble it has to be to serve teh team...not for the fact of doing a dribble only.

-you said yourself that you are sometimes egoist … you like the ball! … It is hard to believe that you grew up with 1 brother & 2 sisters!
Yes! I know… sometimes I do dribble too much, & I loose the ball.... Slowly but surely It gets better & better. Each year I become more realistic, stronger.
I learned more ,when to pass the ball now...but I ma not scared of keeping it. I assume. It is who I am. All of my life I had to fight to live my dream....so I dribble to win.

You just said you had to fight to become Ronaldo...can you explain?
It was not easy for me: at 11 years old I left my family & Madeira to go to Lisboa at the Sporting. I was coming from a tiny Island not like Porto or some kind of large city. I was alone. The others were not use to see a guy from Madeira there... it was rare for young players of Madeira to have such opportunity.Sometimes I was scared , but the fear never got over my certainties. I had to achieve my dream: to become a great football player. Today I am here at Manchester utd.

It seems that people were making fun of you , mainly because of your accent?
(he laughs) It is like I was speaking a foreign langage. In Portugal, there are many different accents in divers areas...but the accent from Madeira....Ooh! My God!...When I arrived, EVERYBODY was making fun of me. Today I know it was understandable. But when you are 11-12 years old..Pff! I was having a bad reaction to it... It really was a bad time for me.

Got stronger then?...
Of course. I was shy. When people pulled my legs & was really upset & I got really mad. This is not proper, but it helped me for the future. Today I can easily face any worries! I stayed 5 years alone there. My family visited me sometimes , do I had to mark (stand out) my character to get welcome in the group . Don't forget that I am just 22 years old. In fact I became mature at an early age, Because very young, alone & living in a grown up professional world, I feel inside much older than 22 years old. I am responsible & an assert man.

Still a little bit shy...In the beginning of this interview you didn 't want to speak in English & in fact you speak perfectly English !...
It depends of the moment. During the game I am not shy, neither with friends, but about the rest....

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PArt 2:
-You are a shy guy and also really aggressive. When you were kid, the legend tells that you threatened one as of your teacher in college with a chair! (he holds back a desire to laugh) When young, sometimes you may surprise yourself & have some unacceptable reactions. I remember this first day at school, in Sporting. Somebody makes the call by number: "Number 5". I rise and I answer: "Cristiano Ronaldo". My accent starts an hilarity around me. They make fun. Me, I feel the nervousness to get me. I feel bad. And I crack. But it is a bad memory which goes up. I do not want to speak about it any more. The history circulates all alone. I do not need to feed it.
- You are an agitator in the play. You inflict with the opponents what you underwent young person, humiliation. “Therapy by the dribble?”
Do I really look like an agitator?

-yes! You do!...
(he laughs) I do not agree. In life, it is necessary to go at the end of your ideas. And in the play, my football is conduct by the dribble. I am a winger. I face a frontal opposition with a defender, whom I must eliminate. I like this challenge. Certain players think that that my manner of the dribbler can be a little provocative, that I seek to excite the crowd, but it is not my vision.

You understand that players can be sometimes frustrated to see you connecting dribbles with excess?
In Manchester, everyone adores my style of playing! Outside, OK, they criticize me, they whistle against me sometimes, but I don’t care.

You irritate also very much with your "dives".
I am convinced that, this reputation is the reason why I lost the title of better young player of the World Cup 2006. But all these charges do not worry me at all. The journalists would do better talk about all the brutalities that I undergone during games. And then those which whistle against me when they believe that I dive, I can some how thank them, because that motivates me even more. When I feel this hostility, I think that if people whistle me, it is that they are afraid of me. And that I am good and dangerous.

Have you been already afraid during a game?
When I was younger, in Portugal, yes. Today, never. Even if my football is not there when I play. Even if the defender sticks one of them to me. I would have to be torn off a leg to I give up a match.

You never achieved the unanimity, in spite of your immense talent. You thus had several fixings with Ruud van Nistelrooy, your fellow-member of then, with the drive. Did the Netherlander reproach you for being too individualistic, to keep the balloon too much?
It is not that at all. It happens all the time, the fixings between fellow-members. We bickered together, we knew a dirty morning, but after the shower, all was settle down.

Let us speak then about another "friend" Oranje, Khalid Bouhlarouz, which conscientiously massacred you at the time of the eighth of finale of World cup.
Hold on, I do not have a particular problem with the Netherlanders. I played twice against the Netherlands and I won twice. No no, no problems!

OK, but in eighth of final, you left the field, wounded and in tears!
Sometimes there are some violent defenders, but I do not think about it. Its tacle was unpleasant, it is true, but it is over . However, that undoubtedly remains the most physical game that I dispute. Even I did not remain more than fifteen minutes on the football pitch. I had the rage while leaving.

Do you have the impression that certain defenders, like Bouhlarouz perhaps, enter sometimes on the ground with a contract on you?
If you say it, I can believe it.

It is a question...
I especially believe that I irritate them. I pass them once, twice, and that makes them go insane... I prefer this theory with than the "contract". I do not believe in it, finally.

Was a player as Luis Figo which, throughout its career, perfectly managed its relation with the conflicts, the provocations, with the aggressions, used was he a guide for you these last months?
We did speak a lot, it is true, and it always advised me to never let myself distract from my play during games. Not to fall into the traps.

After the incident which opposed you to Wayne Rooney, at the time of his expulsion in quarterfinals of the World cup, did you consult Figo to know if it was judicious to turn over or to play at the side of Rooney in Manchester ?
he has experience of these hot situations, him which passed to Barça and Real, and has to turn over to play the Nou Camp, but not, I did not speak to him about that. I consulted my close relations, my family, but I made my decision alone.

With some doubts? One announced to you in Real Madrid last summer.
It was not necessary for to me to take a long time to realize that I did not do anything evil. I defended my country, my colors. That is what is more important for me. The reactions were very strong after this game and the expulsion(red card) of Rooney, but they did not affected me. In Manchester,from Ferguson to the players, everyone cordially welcomed me and supported me at the height polemics.

Did you read all that was written on you in the English tabloïds at the time of the polemic?
I don’t read English! (he laughs)

A few moments ago, you could not speak English...
In fact, I prefer not to read it. Sometimes, they cut me (put me down), and that, that would put to me into anger. Sometimes, they talk in a good way about me, but even that, I do not want to read it. I prefer to imagine each day, that they say nice comments about me.

So you did not see last summer the page of a London tabloïd where your face was used as target with darts?
Everyone was speaking about it, then I ended up seeing it, but I don't care.

You prefer to listen to the songs of Old Trafford? It appears that the fans have a new song for you.
(he starts to sing)"He plays one the left, he plays one the right..... and he makes England ****." Meaning it plays on the left, it plays on the right, and it put England in the s-h-i-t! It is good, hein? We are several in United to have a song.
(From me to you girls: I would have loved to hear Cris sing! )

Did you immediately understand the lyrics?
It is a player who explained it to me: I do not remember who any more …. Rio, Wayne, or Gaby, my pals.

And before this song,what was it?
"There is only one Ronaldo!" you see, I told you! In Sporting already, I had my song, but I forgot the lyrics.

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PArt 3:
Now since we know each other a little better, tell me please what really occurred between you and Rooney after the match Portugal - England?
Well, I told you everything. After the match and his deserved expulsion, I saw Rooney. It came towards me and said : "Cristiano, played well. You made a good game, you have a great team, I wish you good luck and good continuation!” The following days,we exchanges textos. Same during the holidays. Like pals. During this time, we’ve heard that Rooney was annoyed against me, that it was going to "get me"when I am back, newspapers lies. My relation with Wayne, it is the opposite of all of this. It’s great!

Put besides your uprooting at 11 years, your course of life is rather similar with his. You feel like brothers. The "babies-stars brothers"?
Like brothers yes. We have the same age. He is also very talented.We really get along. Rio and Gaby are our super pals. But there is a large difference, he arrived when he was 18 years to Manchester. Then even if it has an accent of Scouser, he handles the jokes more easily than me, which I had to support when 11 years old only. However, today In Portugal if people makes fun of my accent it’s makes me laugh that even pleases to me. I am proud of my accent.

Because today people dares in Portugal to make fun of the star Ronaldo?
When people do that, they say: "Ronaldo is nice & funny!”When I go back to Madeira, the first hours, they make fun of me because I speak Portuguese from continent, but at the end of the day, the nature returns. I speak again "madeirense".

When you arrived to Manchester, in 2003, did you chose number 7?
I asked if number 28,( that I had in Sporting) was available. Alex Ferguson said to me: "No no, you are the 7." OK boss. I was not going to say to him: "No no, I am the 28." The 7, it is a number like another.

Not In United! When I wore my first red shirt with number 7, I could have undergone of a blow the weight of this number, from all the men who had carried it. But not. But after the 2e game, somebody came to see me said : "Eh,do you know the number which you wear? You know who wore it before you?" But I do not feel a greater responsibility to carry the 7. Whatever is the number, I must give the best for my colors.

Who do you know among the "Magnificent 7", splendid numbers 7 of United? David Beckham, George Best...

You could add Eric Cantona, Bryan Robson and Johnny Berry, of the time of Busby Babes.
Yes, it one is crowned link. I am honored to be a part of this list. The history will judge if I am worthy. Each one of them was a special player.

Like you, after the Rooney business, Cantona had, after the business "kung fu", to return to impose himself in the English football. Do you feel similar to him?
Ooh! La! La!, Cantona! He is a GREAT one!. I admire him. A super player, a strong character and a personality not commun. I love him. I understand what happened to him that day .It had fire in the head, and in similar moments, you can make dirty tricks. The players will understand me when I say that. Sometimes, you make a decision without proper perspective that yourself do not understand. Eric, I met him for a shoot of an ad for Nike. Great guy!...

Were you not intimidated? No, relaxed. Was I supposed to be?

Are you sensitive to the legend of United?
When I arrived I visited the museum of the club and I understood...

On a wall of Old Trafford a clock is hunging with the date of February 6, 1958. Does you know with what it refers to? It is the date of the crash landing of Munich not? The accident which put an end to the team of "Busby Babes".

It is good, you can remain here! at the club and in town, people does not stop pointing this dramatic event out.

Great, we started by speaking about Ronaldo, conclude with Ronalda, your sister. How is she doing?
(Laughter) My sister? The singer?

Yes! Who else?, "there is only one Ronalda" isn’t it?
Ah that, I am sure! For me, she is number 1. She sings since many years. When I was young at home, she never stopped. All the time... he real name, is Catia. I know all her songs by heart.

Can you hum one of them?
(he explodes laughing!) Oh ! la,la!no no!, I prefer to send you her CD. It is very romantic. Like me!


Are you romantic, you? A little bit! Sometimes...

Would you like to add something? (Thinking…) Yes! I LOVE LUMI..but she is sooo hard to get!*

*of course, this question WAS NOT in the interview : it is a jOKE!

credit: lumi from cristiano ronaldo unofficial fan site