"The president looked at me... as if I were no longer indispensable"
“If I'd left for a question of money, then I would have gone to China, they were offering me five times more," Ronaldo has said in an exclusive interview with France Football.
Cristiano Ronaldo has given an exclusive interview to France Football, in which he spoke about his departure from Real Madrid, moving to Juventus, his relationship with Florentino Perez, the rape allegations against him and the prospects of winning his sixth Ballon d’Or.
"I felt that, inside the club, especially on the part of the president, they did not consider me like they did at the beginning. The first four or five years, I had the feeling of being Cristiano Ronaldo, but then less so. The president looked at me with eyes that were saying something else, as if I were no longer indispensable," recalled the Juventus star.
He added that this change of attitude prompted him to “think about leaving” Madrid, which eventually led him to sign for Juventus. “When there were reports [in the media] saying that I wanted leave, I had the impression that the president would not stop me.”
The Portuguese explained that Zinedine Zidane’s departure some weeks before his own had no bearing on his decision, although it did offer him some comfort when he was making up his own mind about leaving.
Money not a factor in Ronaldo’s decision to join Juventus
Speaking about signing with Juve, Ronaldo said it was not the money that motivated his decision, but the fact that the Serie A club “really wanted him”.
“If I'd left for a question of money, then I would have gone to China, they were offering me five times more. I didn’t come to Juve for money, I came to win the same as in Madrid, or even more. The difference was that Juve really wanted me. They told me that. And they demonstrated that,” he told France Football.
The 33-year-old striker also stated that he believed that he deserves to win the Balon d’Or and dreams of “winning it a sixth time and surpassing Lionel Messi.”
When asked about the rape allegations against him that have come to light in the past few weeks, Ronaldo responded: "I gave explanations to my partner [Georgina Rodriguez]. My son, Cristiano Jr, is too small to understand. The worst is for my mother and my sisters. They are stunned, and at the same time very angry.”
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