Cristiano Ronaldo has always been characterized as a sincere guy with what he thinks and says; He’s never had a problem with it. But in the last few hours, the current Al Nassr footballer from Saudi Arabia responded in a surprising way to a former player with whom he shared in the Sporting Club of Lisbon academy.
And it is as they say, both Cristiano Ronaldo and Fábio Paim, ‘they went through the green and the old times’ in order to become professional players. The first became one and is one of the current figures in world football with countless awards and recognitions, while the second was nothing more than a promise in his country Portugal.
A few weeks ago, Paim himself stated in an interview for the British media ‘The Sun’ that he used to go with Cristiano Ronaldo to eat leftovers at McDonald’s when they shared the Sporting Lisbon academy. That story is well known to fans of the ‘7’ from Funchal.
So far so good, but what has truly caught everyone’s attention, including that of the Portugal captain, were his last interventions in which he went so far as to state that if he had had the focus and mentality of ‘CR7’ he would have competed with he and Lionel Messi for the Ballon d’Or. He even joked that the former Real Madrid and Manchester United player should give him one of his ballons d’or.
“I gave an interview and said, a little jokingly, that I thought Cristiano should offer me a Ballon d’Or, but with humility. Who am I next to ‘father’? If he kept working and had half the mind of Cristiano, maybe it wouldn’t be him and Messi. It would be me, Messi and Cristiano. We would be fighting and Cristiano wouldn’t win the balls he has. Maybe some of them were mine”, those were the words of Fábio Paim in the ‘Sem Remorsos’ podcast.
Photo: AFP
“I went to Sporting when I was seven years old, I grew up there. They were years of glory in which I won everything I could. I didn’t get to where I could have gotten, but I marked a generation. If people don’t forget it, it’s because I marked them.”he added.
However, this time Paim’s statements did not go unnoticed by Cristiano Ronaldo, who did not remain silent and commented the following on one of his social networks: “Who is this guy?”. That was what the top scorer of the Portuguese National Team commented and the same post was accompanied by some eye emojis and a clear ‘WTF’.
But despite those short words that Cristiano uttered, apparently the striker does know Fábio Paim, since the international press brought into coalition the Portuguese’s statements when he arrived at Manchester United in 2003. “If you think I’m good, wait to see Fábio Paím”, he said on that occasion.
Who is Fábio Paim?
He is a former Portuguese footballer who played in the winger position. He played 42 international matches with the Portuguese youth teams and also scored 7 goals. He played in the minor divisions of Sporting Lisbon and even signed for Chelsea led by Luiz Felipe Scolari.
