Real Madrid and Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo admits that modesty is not his forte. His confession came in an interview which took place back in August and that was attended by a number of publications, including El País, to promote his documentary Ronaldo.
He spoke about the documentary, which will only be aired on 9 November at certain cinemas all over the world, including 20 in Spain.
“We the idea [to do a documentary] was put to me, I thought it was fantastic. I felt happy about being about to show my fans, my family, what my life is like. I never expected that one day I would open up my life in this way the results are very natural. It’s all real, I’m not a fake, what you see is me”, he said.
The first part of the film is revealing: “The most important thing for me is winning. It’s as simple as that. I get mad when I lose. Sometimes I regret what I do – I shout and say all kinds of things. My temperament makes me exaggerate everything. But it’s a part of my makeup and those who work with me know that”.
Another insight into the player is when he is asked about Leo Messi’s successes: “It doesn’t bother me”, says Cristiano. “If you look back over my past eight years, I’ve always been at the peak; and that is difficult. Name me someone else who has done it? After that, being No.1 or No.2 is a matter of small details, such as if you win trophies or not. Perhaps for you, Messi is the best; in my head, I am the best – and everyone should think that about ourselves. That is why I have been able to achieve so much in my career.
“It was hard for me to watch Messi picking up several Ballon d’Ors. I’d be thinking: ‘Why should I go to the gala?’”, he continued.
Other parts of the documentary focus on his family life; his childhood in Funchal wasn’t all smooth sailing, as his mother, Maria Dolores dos Santos Aveiro explains: “If he hadn’t dedicated himself to football, he would probably have fallen into drugs”. He also lost his father, an alcoholic, when his career was taking off: “He was drunk almost every day. I never really knew him well. I would have liked him to have been around more”, to which his mother added, “Although he never mistreated his children, I became his victim”.
Cristiano does appear quite normal in the film – as normal as a football superstar can be, at one point, even reflecting back on his famous Mixed Zone comment: “People are jealous of me because I am handsome, rich and a good footballer”, – “That was a mistake”, he conceded.
