Madrid (AFP) – “Tell me, who is the best player in the world?” Cristiano Ronaldo asks during his own film, a glass of wine in his hand and gold necklace dangling from his neck. “It’s me,” he replies, breaking into laughter as those around him laugh back.
Superstar footballer and one of the best-paid athletes in the world, Ronaldo is as much adored for his talent as he is detested for his bravado. To him, it has always been one and the same.
“Someone people love me, some people hate me but I was made to be the best,” he said. “I am living the dream.”
Ronaldo’s reputation is now threatened by an accusation of rape in the United States, a complaint that dates back to 2009, and which he denies.
“I vigorously denounce the accusations that target me, rape is an abominable crime that goes against all that I am and what I believe,” wrote Ronaldo on Twitter on Wednesday.
Owner of 10 Champions Leagues and league titles with Real Madrid and Manchester United, and a Euro 2016 winner with Portugal, there is little Ronaldo has not achieved on the field.
Five Ballon d’Or awards are testament to one of the game’s greatest ever players. But behind the spectacular goals and chiseled physique, Ronaldo’s tunnel-vision for success is driven by a relentless work ethic, unshakeable self-belief and carefully crafted entourage that worship the ground he walks on.
“Because I’m rich, I’m beautiful, I’m a great player, people are jealous of me,” he said in 2011.
He opened a museum in 2013, run by his brother Hugo, dedicated to celebrating his own career in his home town of Funchal in Portugal. Outside stands a bronze statue of Ronaldo himself.
At his home in the suburb of Finca near Madrid, Ronaldo had ‘CR7’ — his personal motif — emblazoned into various items of household furniture, including chairs, dinner tables and plates.
Self-reverence is perhaps not surprising given the hysteria that surrounds him. In his 2015 film, ‘Ronaldo’, a documentary about his life, a screaming Portugal fan breaks through the barriers while the team are training and sprints across the pitch.
She is stopped by security but Ronaldo hugs her anyway. Still in tears, she says: “At least now he knows I exist.”
– Teased as a child –
He was not always so popular. After moving to Lisbon from his home in Madeira aged 12, Ronaldo, bearing braces, spots and a regional accent, was teased at school.
from World Soccer Talk https://ift.tt/2QqMUug
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