Ronaldo’s Real Valladolid face off with Real Madrid as Brazilian looks to achieve principal goal

Real Madrid will host Real Valladolid at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, where Ronaldo played some of his best football.

Back in 2018, Real Valladolid announced that football legend Ronaldo Nazario had officially become the club’s majority shareholder after acquiring a 51% controlling stake in the club. This current season marks five years since Ronaldo’s return to Spain, where he produced some of his greatest football as a Real Madrid player. The Brazilian legend will now meet with his former club again this weekend, as Real Valladolid are set to travel to the Spanish capital to take on Real Madrid on Sunday afternoon at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.

How Ronaldo became a key member of Los Galacticos

Ronaldo made the leap into European football back in 1994, when he joined Dutch club PSV Eindhoven. Two years later, he moved to Spain for the first time when he signed for Barcelona, impressing the fans at the Camp Nou with his dribbling, his skills and his finishing ability.

In 1997, Ronaldo joined Inter, but he was back in LaLiga Santander five years later after Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez convinced the striker to form part of the Galacticos project, alongside other world-class players such as Luis Figo and Zinedine Zidane. At Real Madrid, Ronaldo celebrated the La Liga title in 2002/03, his first season at the Bernabeu.

There, he developed friendships and relationships that would help him later in life, including a close relationship with Florentino Perez, whom he considers an example to follow when it comes to directing a football club. “We are great friends and I have been able to join him at the Bernabeu twice as president,” Ronaldo said on DAZN’s docuseries ‘Ronaldo: El Presidente’. “To be able to sit there with him was a really amazing feeling. He is a man who taught me everything. I would like to work at Real Valladolid as well as he works at Real Madrid.”

Ronaldo’s Real Valladolid takeover

Ronaldo’s takeover of Real Valladolid was completed in September 2018, with an excited O Fenômeno explaining that his objective is to turn El Pucela into an international club, one which attracts fans from all around the world. “Real Valladolid are a historic club, one which has played European football and which belongs to a city that boasts a lot of sporting development in various disciplines,” Ronaldo noted at the time. “In addition, they are a well-managed club with potential for development and a predisposition for change and growth as an institution.”

Real Valladolid secured safety with one matchday to go in 2018/19 and finished 13th in the COVID-19-affected 2019/20 campaign. This was their best La Liga finish in almost two decades. Real Valladolid suffered relegation to LaLiga SmartBank the following season, but they bounced back in 2021/22 to secure direct promotion back to the Spanish top flight.

Making Real Valladolid a LaLiga Santander mainstay

Ronaldo already made clear on the day he was officially presented as the club’s new majority shareholder that he wants to turn El Pucela into a LaLiga Santander mainstay and boost their brand worldwide with the help of the fans. He stated: “Trust us to consolidate Real Valladolid in La Liga and grow the enthusiasm that exists. If all of us stay together, I am convinced that it will be very difficult to beat us.”

The former Brazil international has already helped the club evolve, from launching a fanzone outside the stadium on matchdays to sharing unique content through Pucela Play to developing the RV International Academy.

On the pitch, Real Valladolid already looked Real Madrid in the eye earlier this season, with El Pucela proving that they are a team difficult to defeat. Los Blancos grabbed a narrow 2-0 victory that day courtesy of a Karim Benzema brace, but struggled to break down a solid Real Valladolid until late in the game.

On Sunday, the two teams will take to the Bernabeu pitch for a duel that marks a special occasion for the Real Valladolid owner, as Ronaldo’s team will face the club he played his greatest years with.