‘Me and Cristiano Ronaldo ate leftover McDonald’s burgers’: CR7’s friend

Cristiano Ronaldo and Fabio Panim met at Sporting CP when both were just starting their careers and trying to break into professional football. However, their paths diverged when Ronaldo was signed by Manchester United, with Panim trying his luck at another Portuguese side, Mosca Verde.

In an interview with The Sun, Panim recalled some of the moments he spent with Ronaldo, who is considered one of the best players in the world. Although he explained that they weren’t “best friends,” he said they did maintain a good friendship throughout their years on the team and shared a lot of common moments.

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Among the memories recounted in the interview, Panim recalled the time when they both played for Sporting Lisbon and lived in the team’s youth academy. After training, he said, he would go with the now Nasr football players to a McDonald’s near the stadium, where they would sit together and eat leftover burgers from the day.

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“We used to go to McDonald’s at night and buy burgers that no one wanted, and they were hard to sell.” he told The Sun. “We went there every night and had burgers.”

He also said that ever since he met Cristiano Ronaldo when he was eight years old, he saw him as a competitive and disciplined player, as the Portuguese has shown throughout his career. “He’s always been like that, when he loses, he gets frustrated. It’s that hard work that got him to where he is now. Even though he didn’t have to play today, he wanted to be the best. “

However, there is a lot of buzz about Panim’s talent. In 2003, when Ronaldo left Portugal to join Manchester United, he made this comment about his teammates: “If you think I’m good, wait until you see Fabio Panim.”

What happened to Panim?

Although both players were great hopes for Portuguese football at the time, after being signed by Premier League side Chelsea in 2008, Panim didn’t know what to do with the fame, money and lifestyle that could be achieved as a footballer. After coming to England, he could only play in the reserve team, and then left the club to try his luck with various Portuguese teams.

His life changed forever in 2019 when police discovered he was in possession of illegal drugs and he ended up in jail, where he spent a year. “My prison is right next to the Portuguese national team’s stadium, so I see them training every day. I was there for a reason but I never thought: ‘Ah, Cristiano is there. I should be there too,’ the player told The Sun.

In the same interview, the former player assured that he was better than Ronaldo at the time and that he had not seen any professional player with his qualities on the pitch. “If I had the same effort and commitment as Cristiano Ronaldo, I would be better than him.

I’m better off if I talk about technology. I’m a little Ronaldinho. But as we have seen, it is not technology that leads us to success,” he assures.

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