Former Real Madrid and Milan manager Fabio Capello has revealed that he kicked Brazilian legend Ronaldo Nazario out of the club due to his weight and party habits.
Ronaldo joined Real Madrid in 2002 from Inter and scored goals for fun at the Santiago Bernabeu, but by the time Capello arrived in 2006, four years later, his returns had started diminishing.
After little more than seven months in charge of the ‘O Fenomeno’, Capello made up his mind that Ronaldo had to leave the club.
“In February 2007 I decided to get rid of Ronaldo Nazario, he was someone who liked to party and encouraged the group to go out with him. One day Van Nistelrooy came and told me: ‘Sir, it smells like alcohol here in the locker room’ and it was true. Ronaldo weighed 94 kg that year. In Korea, at the 2002 World Cup, he weighed 82. I told him to lose weight… he reached 92.5kg.”
Ruud van Nistlerooy has since denied this. Ronaldo was later diagnosed with a metabolic condition which means that his body burns less energy than others, but it is also true that his midnight delights were no secret in Madrid.
He would move to Milan in the summer of 2007, where he had a largely unsuccessful spell, making just 20 appearances in 18 months. The Rossoneri signed him against the advice of Capello.
“[Silvio] Berlusconi called me one day to ask my advice on a hypothetical purchase of Ronaldo. I advised him against doing so, telling him that he was a party animal, and that he only thought about being surrounded by women. He told me: ‘Okay, thank you Fabio.’ The day after, Ronaldo signed for Milan, he didn’t pay attention to me,” Capello told students at the inauguration of the university year at Limec, as carried by Diario AS.
The Italian coach has a reputation for not suffering fools or indiscipline, and went on to chastise Antonio Cassano for eating chips before every match. Ronaldo at the point when he crossed paths with Capello had perhaps lost some of his zest for the game too, in a marriage that never looked likely to end well.
