Ronaldo: “My 2002 haircut was horrible, I apologize to all mothers”

Ronaldo Nazario, current maximum shareholder of Valladolid and twice winner of the Ballon d'Or, is the protagonist of an extensive report by the prestigious magazine Sports Illustrated. The article emphasizes the facet of the former Brazilian striker as the owner of the Pucelano club, but also reviews various episodes of his time as a footballer. One of the anecdotes that are related is the one related to the striking hairstyle that O Fenómeno wore in the final of the World Cup in Korea and Japan. He himself categorically qualifies that 'look'. “Horrible!” He bellows. “I apologize to all the mothers who saw their children get the same haircut.” But, he explains, there was a reason for the eccentricity. Ronaldo had injured a muscle in his leg before the semi-final against Turkey, and the day before the final he did not want to discuss it with the Brazilian media. “So I cut my hair,” he says. “I saw my teammates and I asked them, 'Do you like it? They said,' No, it's horrible! Cut this off. ' But the journalists saw my haircut and forgot about the injury. “The next day, Ronaldo recovered from the blow to the leg and scored the goal that led Brazil to the final.

Another of the chapters of Ronaldo's life included in the report focuses on the day the Brazilian met Michael Jordan. It took place in the summer of 1999, at Nike's headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon. The two stars in their respective sports met for the first time. Michael Jordan was 36 years old, a year after winning his sixth and final NBA title. Ronaldo was 22 years old, he had already been twice the best player in the world and had become the most feared striker in history. More than two decades later, Ronaldo can't help but smile at what Jordan told him that day. “He told me, 'You're the Michael Jordan of football,'” recalls Ronaldo.

Over the years, Ronaldo Nazario has had to share his name with two other world stars: Ronaldinho and Cristiano Ronaldo. “The coincidence is incredible, that so many Ronaldos are very good,” he says. “It's kind of a lucky name.” While Cristiano Ronaldo's parents named him Ronald Reagan, Ronaldo Nazario's family baptized him with the name of a gynecologist at a hospital in Rio de Janeiro. “The doctor did the delivery for free because my parents couldn't pay,” says Ronaldo. “In the end, my father brought him three kilos of prawns that he collected on the beach, and then my parents gave me the doctor's name. “

After retiring as a player a decade ago, he could have gone on vacation to any of his homes in Madrid, Ibiza or São Paulo. (Her four children, ages 10 to 20, whom she visits regularly, all live in Brazil.) He could have counted all the money he has invested, but Ronaldo wanted to work, to immerse himself in football again. Training was not on his wish list; too much job insecurity, and he preferred to direct four or five people, not 25 players, so after the 2018 World Cup, he had the opportunity to buy Valladolid. For 30 million euros ($ 36.1 million), Ronaldo bought a majority stake in the Pucelano club. Ronaldo is struggling to lose weight. One of the reasons you want to shed those pounds is that you would like to play soccer again. He has not done it for almost three years, because every time he stepped on a field he was injured. “In my head, I think I can still do it,” he says. “And when someone gives me the ball two meters above me, my head thinks I can get to it, and that's the big mistake, because I can't. Sometimes there are good games for the legends, and I want to participate in them. “

Ronaldo lives mainly in an apartment in Madrid (he sold his house to Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos a few years ago) and has set up a Real Valladolid commercial office in the Spanish capital. “We are a first division team, but we don't have the infrastructure that we think we need,” says Ronaldo, who adds that “we have to build a sports city for the first team, for the quarry.” As the team explores potential locations, a four-phase redevelopment of the stadium, which has hardly been updated since it was built for the 1982 World Cup, also begins, complete with a moat that surrounds the field, to separate the players from the players. fans.

Ronaldo works mostly in the Madrid office, but he takes at least two days a week to drive to Valladolid, where he attends all the first team games, some of the second team and some other training sessions. “I'm a bit into everything,” he tells Sports Illustrated. “I want to be close to the players and see what they need, but I try not to get too close, to stay in my place. I don't want to be the president who says: I want this and that, if not, I'll miss you.”

Ronaldo's ultimate goal, about which he is transparent, is to sell Real Valladolid to make a profit, but not for at least four years, And not until your group has taken the club to a new level. For him, that means fighting for trophies and eventually earning a spot in the European competition. “I'm not going to stay here forever, because I have other things in mind for the future,” he says. “But it's too early to talk about that. I want to make this club much better and bigger than when I received it. After that, we'll see. For now, it's just to keep working and keep the club in the First Division.” The prospect of relegation “is a very new situation for me,” says Ronaldo, who was never close to relegation during his playing career. “I have to confess that I suffer a lot in this situation.”

However, like so many others around the world, the most difficult moments for Ronaldo this past year have come outside of work. At Christmas he visited his family in Brazil, where her parents, Sonia and Nelio, were hospitalized with the coronavirus for three weeks. “Now they are safe, but the last two months we have had very difficult times,” he says. “So we all hope this year is better.”

And how could it be otherwise in a report on Ronaldo, the former striker remembers what his favorite goals are: “I love all my goals, they are like my babies,” he says. But a favorite? “I always choose both with Brazil against Germany in the 2002 World Cup final. They weren't the prettiest, but they were the most important. Two years before, nobody believed that he could play football again, but. I was the top scorer and we won the World Cup. Those two goals represent my great fight for two years. “

Ronaldo shares another World Cup anecdote that sealed his place in history. Four years before, on the day of the 1998 final on the outskirts of Paris, Ronaldo had taken a nap after lunch during which his body convulsed, and he had little influence on the game in France's surprising 3-0 victory. In Japan, however, Ronaldo had a different plan. After the final day's meal, he says, “I was walking down the hall looking for someone to talk to me so I wouldn't fall asleep, so it wouldn't happen to me again. I found Dida and said, 'Dida, please stay with me. Talk to me. ' And he was with me until we got on the bus to the stadium. “

Ronaldo is no longer capable of conjuring goals that no other human being could imagine. But he is taking advantage of another facet that has its own intrinsic value to take Valladolid to the highest possible level. “I was born to work, to produce”, He says. “I don't really care if people remember me as Fat Ronaldo or Phenomenon Ronaldo. I've done my best in everything I can. It was a great race, and now I've started a new one. And I want to be the best in this race too. “