Ronaldo at El País
Snippets from an interview with Cristiano Ronaldo from El País. My opinion of him is getting better…
Q: Let’s talk about your destiny to become a politician, because your father admired Ronald Reagan so much that he took his name for your second one. Who would have thought that it would be a Brazilian football player who would popularize the name?
Yes… I was named after Reagan, but it was more on the part of my mother than my father. They didn’t know another Ronaldo would be born in Brazil. Just yesterday, we were talking about it at home. I like my name a lot, it’s a beautiful name.
Q: Was your childhood as difficult as was written in some of your biographies?
It was difficult, but I never lacked anything. My father and my mother worked a lot so we wouldn’t lack anything. But it wasn’t easy going to Lisbon alone at the age of 11. It wasn’t easy leaving Madeira to live alone in a city like Lisbon. I cried all the time, but I liked the experience. I learned a lot, especially about how to live with pressure.
Q: Do you still cry?
A: Yes, I still cry once in a while, sometimes from happiness, or from sadness when we lose.
Q: And for non-football things?
A: Yes, once in a while. But these days, I laugh much more than I cry.
Q: I’ve spoken with a lot of your teammates. It’s surprising to me that the first thing they all tell me is that “he’s very normal.”
A: Those who know me well know what I’m like. A lot of times it saddens me what is said about me, but those that spend time with me know that I’m a sincere person, that I’m not two-faced. That is what makes me the happiest.
