Ronaldo: “I dreamed of winning the World Cup. If I score the decisive goal, I will retire. Messi and I together…”

“Me and Messi together? Anything is possible. We would certainly sell a lot of shirts. We’ve never gone to dinner together, but I’d like to.” The eternal confrontation with his rival Leo is also the latest suggestion on Cristiano Ronaldo’s future in the complete version of the interview given by Cristiano Ronaldo to Piers Morgan on English TV, of which the very controversial first advances against United had come out, suggesting a farewell. “Messi is an incredible, magical footballer. As a person, we’ve been sharing the stage for 16 years, we have a great relationship. We’re not friends, but he’s like a teammate, someone I respect for how he talks to me, for how his wife talks about my partner. I can only say good things about Messi. The best player I’ve seen, with Zidane.”

Win the World Cup

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“If Portugal win the World Cup, I don’t care who scores. Final against Leo’s Argentina? If we win 3-2 and I score the decisive goal, I retire instantly.” Halfway between fun and future resolutions (actually he says more about retiring: “I want to play for another 2-3 years. I want to finish at 40, the right age. But I don’t know, sometimes you make plans and life changes them”) This is how Ronaldo approaches the World Cup: “It will be tough to win another one. But I’m very optimistic about this, we have a fantastic coach and excellent players, I’m sure we will have an incredible World Cup. I dreamed of winning it: it will be tough, but anything is possible We will try. We are not the favorites, we never are and we weren’t even when we won the European Championship. My favorites are France, Spain, Argentina, Germany, Brazil. And England. I think they can win, like us “.

Farewell to United

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“Now I’m only thinking about Portugal and the World Cup, my fifth and last. I don’t know what will happen next. I don’t know if I’ll still be at United. Maybe it would be better for both them and me if we started a new chapter. I feel great , I am convinced that if they let me, I would still score many goals”, says Ronaldo on his future at the Red Devils: “It is hard to say that I will not return, let’s see. But the fans will always be in my heart”. He certainly won’t go to Saudi: “The Arabs’ offer of 350 million euros is real. But I refused it. My agent has over 100 players, when he meets teams it’s not always for me. I had many offers for me And I have the highest salary in history. It’s false that nobody wanted me, but I wanted United and to play at my best.”

Against Ten Hag

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At the center of the controversy remains above all the coach of the Red Devils, Ten Hag. “Many things have happened. I think it was a club strategy to push me to the limit because they wanted me to leave, not just the coach but two or three high-level managers. I felt betrayed, I understood that there were people who didn’t He wants to Manchester, not this year but last year too.” The bone of contention was the request to come on for the last three minutes with Tottenham: “I regret having left earlier, I think. But the coach provoked me. He wanted to put me on for three minutes, I’m not that type of player. With Rayo there 9 of us left: they only mentioned my name. They only talk about the black sheep, me: everything was my fault. I did it, I asked closed and for me it was over there”. And again: “I felt provoked, for everything that had happened before. He disrespected me. That’s why I say I don’t respect him, because he doesn’t respect me. I don’t regret not having entered: if you don’t respect me, I I have no respect for you.”

The club

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CR7’s recriminations look even higher: “I regret leaving, but I was disappointed by the club’s statement on the three-day suspension: definitely too much. It was a shame, I felt humiliated. I remember coming home, having I told my son Cristiano that they punished me and he asked me ‘how is it possible that they punish the best in the world?’. I told him why in their opinion I had behaved badly and he didn’t believe me. I’m not perfect, I apologized , but 3 days off for that is too much, it’s just for the press”. On the club: “The owners don’t care about the club, only about marketing: they take the money from there and they don’t care about the sporting side. I’ve never spoken to them. They give all the power to the president and the director. It will be hard for United to be at the top for the next few years if the structure doesn’t change”. Among the problems also the management of family problems in the pre-season related to her daughter’s health: “Bella had bronchitis while we were in Mallorca. She was in hospital for a week. I was worried, a lot. I spoke to the president and the director and it was like if they didn’t believe me. It hurt to hear the doubts that I was an exemplary professional, as I have been for 21 years.”