Former Real Madrid boss Fabio Capello has revealed he told ex-striker Ronald to lose weight when he took charge of the club for the second time.
Having managed Los Blancos in the 1996-97 season, the Italian returned in 2006 for a second stint and took over one of the most talented squads ever assembled.
One of the stars of that side was Ronaldo but he return to pre-season training overweight, Capello revealed.
Speaking to Madrid-based daily, AS, the ex-England and Russia coach said he asked the forward to lose weight but he refused.
“Look, he weighed 96kg. I asked ‘how much did you weigh when you won the World Cup in 2002?’ ’84kg’ he said. ‘Can you go down to 90kg at least?’ And he didn’t,” Capello stated.
In the wide ranging interview, Capello was also quizzed on whether the presidents he worked under had ever had any influence on team selection – as has been suggested was the case with Rafa Benitez and Florentino Perez.
The Italian said it happened once under Lorenzo Sanz. He ignored him though and didn’t pick his son Fernando.
When Madrid signed Marcelo, Fernando Gago and Gonzalo Higuain, all very young, Ramon Calderon said ‘why don’t you play them?’ I replied ‘don’t worry, they’re the future fortune of Madrid,’” he revealed.
And he added: “The only problem I had with Lorenzo Sanz is because he wanted his son to play. And Fernando is a good kid. He trained perfectly. But his father insisted he play, and that couldn’t happen.”
