race cristiano ronaldo It was one of the most successful games in football history. His career has been marked by ambition and day-by-day improvement, but like other great footballers, it wasn’t easy at the beginning.
Portuguese striker during training at the academy Sporting CP He had to succeed far from home and without the close support of his family. He lived on a shoestring and ate what he could, or at least that’s what can be inferred from recent testimony. Fabio PaimFormer Portuguese footballer who shared his experience in sports school with Cristiano Ronaldo.
“When we played for Sporting Lisbon and lived in the academy, we lived in the stadium. Then, in the evening we went to the stadium McDonald’s Collect burgers that no one wants anymore and are hard to sell. We caught them there every night and we ate the leftovers to throw away. Sporting CP knew this but unlike what happened today they allowed us to leave,” he commented in an interview with British outlet The Sun.
I have been competitive since I was a child.
In an interview, the former team-mate of Cristiano Ronaldo recalled how they met when the former footballer was a child. real Madrid He was not yet 8 years old and had just arrived at Sporting Lisbon: “We went to play in a tournament Madeira. We had a great time together, a great time. Football wasn’t that serious back then. We can enjoy being kids. I always remember Ronaldo as a great employee, very loyal and someone who wanted to be the best. He has always been like this, getting angry when he loses. It’s this hard work that got him to where he is now. “He admitted.
His former team-mate once again underlined Cristiano’s competitiveness from an early age, but that he never thought he would be able to achieve the goals that would eventually lead to his sporting career: “He had won everything he could and there was nothing left. Down. But this is the result of our hard work as kids. Even he didn’t know he would get to where he is now. I believe he will become a figure in football, a good player, but… To reach the level he reached? At that moment, no.”
(Cristiano Ronaldo’s renaissance: from World Cup substitute to top scorer in 2023)
The two became good friends at Sporting CP, although, as Fabio Paim himself said, they did not become close either: “Yes, we are friends, indeed, I cannot say that we are best friends , but we were friends. I spent some holidays with him. One of them was in Brazil, Before European Cup 2004. “This is Cristiano’s first European Championship with the Portuguese national team and we went on holiday before that.”
Fabio Paim was not as lucky as Cristiano Ronaldo in his sporting career.He came to leave chelsea 2008, but the adventure did not come to fruition, and since then the small team has embarked on the adventures of true globetrotters.