How Ronaldo fought street gangs, loneliness and heartache to become a £50 million global star.
The streets of Lisbon will be empty tonight. In Porto, Braga and Setubal the story will be the same. Football fans will venture out only if their local bar boasts a decent television set. Families will stay at home, forsaking the joys of a Sunday evening in springtime to sit indoors and watch a TV documentary. The object of their attention will be a man who, at the tender age of 22, has become a national treasure. For its subject, Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, the broadcast of a documentary recording his rags-to-riches story marks the start of the proudest week of his life, a week in which he will be crowned EnglandÂ’s Footballer of the Year and play for Manchester United against Chelsea in the first FA Cup Final at the new Wembley on Saturday. For six months, the makers of Planeta Ronaldo followed UnitedÂ’s iconic No 7 to film a unique insight into his life. The result is a documentary that touches not only on the high points of RonaldoÂ’s career, drawing praise for him from a cast list including Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho and Wayne Rooney, but also on the setbacks Ronaldo has faced in his mission to become the best player in the world.
Throughout his career, "that boy Ronaldo" — as United fans call him — has overcome challenges that would have seen off lesser men. As a tearful and frightened 12-year-old, he had to leave his home island of Madeira to travel hundreds of miles to follow his dream, fighting loneliness, prejudice and even street robbers along the way. His talent made him a hit at Sporting Lisbon and a global superstar at United. But there have been torrid times, failing to save his harddrinking father from an early grave and the fears for his safety following the World Cup.
And as Planeta Ronaldo shows, behind the talented feet lies an enormous heart. Today, Ronaldo is valued at £50 million but his story began with a very unusual £15,000 deal. Nacional Madeira owed Sporting Lisbon the money on a journeyman player called Franco and, not wishing to pay it, offered the 12-year old Ronaldo instead. Sporting were sceptical but after five minutes of an impromptu trial, they knew they had a bargain. It meant a huge lifestyle change for Ronaldo, who left his family in Madeira off the north African coast for the bustling Portuguese capital Lisbon.
"It was very traumatic to leave my family," says Ronaldo in the programme. "I had never even been on an aeroplane before. When I saw my mother crying at the airport, it made me want to cry as well. "There were a lot of tears in my first few weeks in Lisbon. Madeira is so small, I couldnÂ’t believe the traffic and noise of a capital city. About 10 of us lived in a room inside the Sporting Lisbon stadium. "In the beginning, nobody could understand me because of my accent and I couldnÂ’t understand them. I used to call my family whenever I could. I remember buying phone cards and looking at the units go down as I spoke to my parents and brothers and sisters."
Ronaldo’s trials and tribulations had a menacing side, too. He recalls one incident in particular: "A gang jumped on me and my team-mates in the street. The other players ran away but I stood up and fought — and the robbers didn’t get anything." And all through his young life’s ordeal, Ronaldo clung to his ambitions. "No matter how bad things got," he says, "I had this burning dream." He had to vie for attention with another young star at Sporting called Ricardo Quaresma, but Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, then the coach of Porto, says he could see his talent straight away.
Mourinho tells the programme: "I went to watch Sporting and there was this tall, elegant kid playing up front. I had never heard of him before but my eyes were drawn to him right away. I turned to my assistant and said: 'Who is this player, he must be the son of Van Basten'. Their styles were so similar. Cristiano has gone on to become a great player."
It was Sir Alex, however, who gave Ronaldo his big break in 2003, signing the unknown teenager to replace the most famous player on the planet, David Beckham. Ferguson says: "We played Sporting in a friendly and my players came in at half-time and said: 'Please sign him'. They didnÂ’t know I had already been with the Sporting directors the previous evening to talk about it! "A lot of players wouldnÂ’t want the No 7 shirt worn by Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona and Beckham but I knew Cristiano would thrive on it with his confidence and ability. He caused an explosion among our fans from his very first game, when I brought him on against Bolton.
"IÂ’ve had some great players like Bryan Robson and Roy Keane in 20 years at United but Cristiano is the best now in terms of sheer ability and imagination. He has improved so much in two years. That is not by accident, it is because he practises every day and has the desire to get better." Ronaldo nearly quit the Premiership last year after becoming the victim of a hate campaign following his role in RooneyÂ’s sending-off at the World Cup. Ronaldo initially thought United did not care about him and when Ferguson visited him face-to-face in Portugal, he found the young player genuinely frightened for his safety. In the documentary, Ferguson reveals how Ronaldo was won over.
"I tried to contact Cristiano after the England game but didnÂ’t get any reply," says Sir Alex. "I thought he wasnÂ’t returning my calls but then found out IÂ’d been using an old number. Cristiano hadnÂ’t got any message from me and might have felt I hadnÂ’t shown any interest in him. "After the tournament David (Gill, chief executive) and myself flew to Val do Lobo on a private plane to see him. "Cristiano had fears about the reaction back in England. I explained that we had gone through the same thing with David Beckham when they were burning effigies of him after the 1998 World Cup. I told him that English people talk more than they actually do anything. They might make a lot of noise but they wouldnÂ’t harm him physically.
"We said he could move house to somewhere in the countryside, more private, and that helped. "He got a lot of boos in his first away game back against Charlton. Then, he beat a man and hit the crossbar with a tremendous shot. They were suddenly silent because they were terrified of what he was doing to their team. I told Cristiano the answer was to quieten the fans with his talent. And he always had the courage to show his talent." Yet again, Ronaldo took the brave rather than the easy option, staying in Manchester rather than taking up offers from Barcelona and Real Madrid.
"I did think about my future," he admits. "I asked my friends, family and my agent (Jorge Mendes) what I should do. They all had the same opinion,that I should stay and fight to win the fans in England over. So thatÂ’s what I did." In Rooney, his World Cup sparring partner,he found someone to share the burden of superstardom. They have become the most talked-about combination at United since Best, Law and Charlton and if they hit it off at Wembley on Saturday, there may be little Chelsea can do to stop them.
End of Part 1.
