Former Real Madrid boss Fabio Capello reveals he had no choice but to "sack" Ronaldo in January 2007, despite rating him as the best player he's ever managed during his career.
Fabio Capello has managed some of the best players ever during his spells in charge of Real Madrid, AC Milan, Roma and England, from Zinedine Zidane to Paolo Maldini to Marco van Basten to Luis Figo, but selected the Brazilian Ronaldo as the most talented individual he took charge of.
It's somewhat surprising, then, that Capello sold Ronaldo midway through the 2006/07 season, a season in which Real Madrid managed to claw back nine points from Barcelona to win La Liga.
Real Madrid had to sell Ronaldo, claims Fabio Capello
"Recovering nine points against Barcelona was memorable," Capello told Flashscore. "Memorable because the team seemed disorientated. I decided to sell Ronaldo, whom I consider to be the best player I've ever coached, and the chairman and I decided to sack him."
Though Capello only managed Ronaldo for 18 months, a time in which the striker struggled with injuries and weight issues, that's certainly high praise considering the list of names the Italian has had the fortune of coaching. Indeed, Ronaldo made just seven league appearances in the half-season before his £5.3m departure to AC Milan, with Capello consistently dropping him due to him being deemed frequently overweight.
Upon leaving, Ronaldo also thanked everyone except Capello: "I would like to thank the fans who've supported me all the time and thank all the teammates that I've had here and all the coaches I've had – except one."
Capello, though, wished the Brazilian all the best, and continues to recognise the talent of a player FourFourTwo ranked at no.6 in the greatest players of all time list.
The Italian also highlighted how the imminent departure of David Beckham posed an issue for Real Madrid in 2006/07, too, though the Englishman's attitude quickly meant any issues were resolved.
"There was another problem at the time, that of Beckham, who had signed with Los Angeles [LA Galaxy], and the club felt offended and wanted him to stop playing," Capello said.
"I left him out for 10 days, but David came to training properly, he was always on time and he was the last to leave. I went to see the chairman and said: 'Look, chairman, from tomorrow I'm putting Beckham on the pitch because he's a serious person. If you don't like it, sack me, but that's it...'"
"And that's what happened. And from then on, we started to pick up points, until the last home game against Mallorca, when we lost 1-0 and the team played the worst football on the pitch, fearful and dazed. In the second half, after the break, I calmly told them what they should have done, a simple thing: 'Go out on the pitch, play like you'd been training', and we won 3-1 and went on to win the league."
