Cristiano Ronaldo: Impossible to Ignore Official BBC Sport Documentary

[Music]

in my mind i'm always the best

[Music]

i don't care what the people's thinking

what they say in my mind i'm always the

best

all this happened

because of reason

[Music]

the reason is i'm unbelievable inside

the pitch this is why people have

so much interest on me

the numbers say everything

[Music]

hmm

the alera ronaldo

it's the man that's got it all

[Music]

how many other men on the planet

would you say he's got everything

so i mean

you can go through the list of things

that you you know i'm talking about the

best footballer

the most goals

played at the biggest clubs

won the biggest titles

got a beautiful family

everyone would want to be in there in

that amount of shoes if you're growing

up as a kid and you say i want it

it'd be one of your top picks

18 year old cristiano ronaldo wearing

seven david beckham's old shirt he is

twinkle toad and skillful and full of

tricks and full of magic

that ability to

repeat the stuff

that others aren't willing to do

that's what his real talent is

the fans they get crazy they get mad

they they don't know how to react when

they are close to him they try to jump

they try to

to touch him

to have one second opportunity to be

close or to sign something

love him or loathe him manchester united

ronaldo is now the most expensive

footballer in the world

he doesn't care what you think of him he

doesn't care how you feel about his

success he will pray and he won't

apologize he'll strut around saying i've

won you know this is me

and and people are always like this

maybe someone's who don't like me but

because i'm maybe i'm too good

for me again to the top was

predominantly about work ethic mentality

wanting to be the best

hit and lose and always want to win

which is the things that i see in him

we've been better than them we played

better than them so we deserve to win

the league he will look you straight in

the eye and he will tell you he's the

best

but at the same time he will be so keen

to

emphasize just how much hard work went

into him being the best

he's just different he's made different

built differently

[Applause]

time

[Applause]

he creates moments that

hardly anybody else can

after much speculation on a possible

transfer one of the world's greatest

levels

juventus

deal reported 100 million pounds

yeah i have to say

yes

i was surprised

uh when the first when the news

first started to rumble you think of

that's probably just a rumor the

headlines in italy on the day of his

arrival were just

crazy in love

he arrives was the headline of the most

famous sports newspaper

[Applause]

this man this figure the myth legend the

icon has arrived

oh my god you guys like this is going to

be insane

it was renowned

what juventus get when they sang

cristiano ronaldo is the reigning ballon

d'or holder the best player in the world

he's 33 you go 100 million

really but he's still incredibly fit and

he looks after himself properly

juve effectively get the world's biggest

star

[Music]

my dad is special

not because i'm born there but all my

family is there

my friends and uncles everyone is there

and this is why

it's a special island for me

[Music]

atlanta

you can see the place

[Music]

today

[Music]

foreign

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

foreign

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

we just missed out on signing ronaldinho

we were all excited and we was away

thinking we're gonna get ronaldinho and

he went and signed for barcelona

and everyone was like a bit deflated

don't get ronaldinho then we play

sporting and we're in a tunnel and all

of a sudden you start getting whispers

they've got a kid called granada meant

to be half decent a young kid meant to

be really good

i don't think anything of it and the

game starts and then you look at each

other and you're like

okay

he's doing mad stuff he's embarrassing a

couple of our players

it was a bit of a sand pit the pitch to

be fair but he was dancing on it like it

was a normal pitch

[Applause]

i remember half time when i was going

toilet i think with nikki button skulls

i think it might have been and we're all

standing there saying oh my god we got a

sign

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

and then the game finished and we were

all sat on the the coach after waiting

everyone's sitting again

i've been here and now waiting an hour

like let's go we've got to get to the

airport barbara and then it starts to

the noise starts coming traveling back

through the coach that

mr gill

he was the ceo at the time and the

manager in there

and they've got

cristiano and advice like lock

waiting so he can't leave the stadium so

until he signs and agrees to come to

united so

i think that was where the deal was

agreed and then that the rest is history

well

the interesting thing about ronaldo is

there was skepticism even before he

played a game

that was simply the way where you've

signed a portuguese teenager and that

was this enormous tower now

he arrived the the gorky not very

worldly wise bambi

his skin still bore the evidence that he

was pretty young

his teeth weren't hollywood

now just to the cameras please

and every dressing room particularly

that manchester united dressing room is

a school of hard knocks

my office was always in the gym

so it was always available for anybody

whenever they wanted to talk because the

talking and the listening is really what

gets you used to

what they're saying and why they're

saying it and how to actually work with

them

power development is basically looking

at all the different things that the

brain has to focus on

it's listening to the player and finding

out what they need in their minds

that's the key the important key is that

mind of the person

it's not the body at all it's the brain

it's the athlete who trains the body

we've got to train the brains what you

need to do with your body you know how

we do that and it's not just on the

physical side it's not on the mental

side it's on the emotional side it's on

the spiritual side

i'm carrington and i'm in the chair in

the gym

and this young man turns up early in the

morning

he said i've heard about you and i know

that you do a lot of work individually

with a lot of the players

and he said i want to be the best player

in the world

[Music]

18 year old essentially sort of billed

as david beckham's long-term replacement

and by the end of the game had just

completely

eradicated that hanging specter he was

he was sensational in that first game

cristiano ronaldo who absolutely roasted

united and a friendly recently for

sporting lisbon has caused

pandemonium since he came on

but there was a kind of rowing back

after that as there always is with young

players and he did take a while to adapt

in his first season he used to go down

too early what it did particularly away

from home it turned the crowd against

him and the

[Applause]

cautioned team for taking a dive

no contact at all

when he first signed he was about skills

about entertaining about being like the

guy in the crowd to entertain the crowd

rather than products

[Applause]

everyone's taught with end product and

that's what he's got to deliver i mean

the tricks the party pieces are all very

well but

what you've got to define is whether you

want to play with them or against them

as i said i have time and still the jury

would bear

[Music]

ronaldo in the in the early years was

kind of looked upon as unbelievably

talented but a little bit of a show pony

at times and he used to do the obviously

massive amount of step overs

ronaldo

sometimes it's one step over too

many crossed the ball

there's only so many stepovers you can

do someone like rude vanessa were the

top gold squad at the club's waiting for

the ball to be crossed in the box

if you want to affect the game and be

deemed a superstar you've got to cross

the ball

and he got kicked every single day

because of his skill because of the fact

that he liked to commit 1v1 because of

his the style in which he played

the defenders would kick him every

single day and every time he got kicked

he never mowed

the best and the biggest learning curves

i think he he got from his teammates

just say i enjoy game i dribble very

well

i enjoy it right guys when you're ready

christiana are you feeling more and more

confident with each game

nice thing

are you confident

sorry gary he's looking confident anyway

gary there he is confident he's a

yeah you're on the match well done

you goal

his first season he was good the second

season he was beginning to score goals

win matches playing all the biggest

games win trophies

and this was his moment it was his

moment in his home country it was this

moment when the whole world was watching

i always thought that that's the arena

that's the moment that he craved for and

dreamt of all his life

you have to remember that even before

that tournament everyone's talking about

wayne rooney ronaldo was another very

promising footballer he was during that

tournament he really emerged as this

phenomenon and by the time you got to

the final you realize that there was

something astonishing in this portugal

team and a really grand talent

everyone calls me lucy but my name's

lucia roberta tough bronze

my mum's obviously english and my dad's

fully portuguese born born and raised

there i had the full the full portugal

kit green shorts the socks everything

i'd be out on the streets playing

rolling for ronaldo and for the country

and then

it was that underdog story which

i think anybody who didn't have an

association with portugal probably

absolutely loved it all eyes now will be

on marcus

win the thing

the biggest and best players in any

industry when you when you don't win or

you you don't get something over the

line then it's time for to reflect

and analyze and then go back to the

drawing board and i think that's what he

100 done he came back with a

different focus

and he weren't going to be derailed by

one failure

it's crazy because we used to pay tables

and it's quite a lot and if i won i knew

he wouldn't want to stop he'd want to go

again but you get some people that when

they lose they shy away they think

that's that's enough for me and don't

really come back so you see a lot of

traits in someone in little even little

instances like that and he's not someone

who gives up

[Music]

[Music]

foreign

[Music]

this is cristiano ronaldo plenty of red

shirts forward

[Applause]

christiano came in and quickly

embedded himself in the dna of the club

he had experienced players around him

who knew how to win

and i think he took all that on board

by the time the 2006 world cup came

around ronaldo was an established world

star we knew how good he was he hadn't

quite moved yet to that higher plane and

and that would come in the tournament

and and just after it

[Music]

it was the england side we expected to

do well

rooney ronaldo were teammates

england had some injuries but rooney

would be playing up front on his own and

he was still the golden child he was

still considered the most talented the

most promising young player in europe he

was probably ahead of ronaldo at that

point and you had a feeling even on the

day of the match

that something was going to happen here

and that this game was going to be

played out between these two

personalities

look at rooney there battling away

pushing rooney and he's in trouble and

ronaldo straight away was chirping at

the referee to do something i think it's

ricardo cavallio who's down it is

and the referee has gone to his pocket

he's set rooney off

it's a straight red john the only thing

he could set him up for is standing on

carvalho

england will be down to 10 men

does he just wait there i think there's

every chance that winning rooney could

go back to the man united training

ground and stick one on

no i still have the same feeling um

i mean i was i was pretty angry at the

time so i can imagine how

wayne rooney felt

it's impossible to know who he was

winking or what he's actually saying

but of course it was taken

and england

despite heroics are out of the world cup

[Applause]

when he came back to england he was a

villain he was a cheat he'd ruined

england's chances i was upset with the

descending off because

i didn't see

ryan's interns and that's just the truth

but i saw many players trying to get him

sent off for weeks to come it was

[Music]

everyone was against ronaldo and

he kind of

built a lot of bridges in england i

suppose

that's not right first of the lips i

don't like that either i think everyone

hates him no no hang out

absolutely a bit of a win

completely he's gonna get so much

attitude when he gets back to england i

don't think manchester united

the now customary booze greet the first

touch of the ball for cristiano ronaldo

is winking at your teammate saw your

manager or whoever it was he was winking

at actually a big deal no

not really but because

the taste of defeat is so sour and so

bitter that the english fans lash down

booze every time he picks up the ball

england is the song on the lips of the

charlton fans

maybe people misunderstood

his attitude to the game and he loves

playing he's a tough player

[Music]

alex

and his helpers they decided that the

only way that they could that could keep

ronaldo was to i think tell him his

salvation was here

there's no doubt alex ferguson took the

paternal role with ronaldo

to a really extreme degree in some ways

he always looks after his players he

understands

hey that that's partly his role but more

importantly that's the best way to get

the most out of these young men who are

in his charge

ronaldo kim's a young skinny kid at 17.

and he had all these things about him

they were used to criticizing

everybody's diving and all the rest

but you know once the players get about

him in the training ground tonight he

was fantastic

and then the most important thing for a

great players is decision making he was

tough ronaldo could play for millwall

queen spark rangers

caster rovers score hatchery in the game

i'm not sure messi could do it skulls

corner ronaldo

[Applause]

instant impact

[Applause]

so alex ferguson citizen

we're building a team now around the

likes of myself wayne rooney as well and

cristiano was the heartbeat

now it's cristiano ronaldo sahar waits

inside the area ronaldo goes alone and

ronaldo wins the match

for manchester united

87 minutes played

it all came together manchester united

are the barclays premiership champions

of 2006-7

that was a the beginning of a new era

cristiano ronaldo

double footballer of the year

puts manchester united

within touching distance of the title

his style was about attacking going at

people and that fast movement you know

it's all about speed and reaction

[Applause]

but the most important thing for him is

i'm going to score a goal and that's got

to be the thing because this is the most

important thing in football scoring goal

is the most important thing no matter

what anybody says about anything

you need to win there are only one way

to win score a goal so that's always in

his mind score goals score go score

goals

darren fletcher has joined the stoke

wall as ronaldo shoots and scores

like most young kids i've probably tried

to hit a couple free kicks like him

here he comes

oh it's two and it's absolutely

magnificent

i tried to base my free kick from

ronaldo hit the ball by the valve and it

moves

so what do you do

oh yeah i don't hear that noise

that's squeaking

um

yeah this was i think i was probably

about 14.

i'm a big portsman fan so when he scored

that free kick at old trafford against

portsmouth i was there so i think i took

a lot of motivation from that and wanted

to kind of replicate what he does and

yeah this was a

not quite ronaldo but it was close

the most important thing about cristiano

ronaldo that people don't often realize

is how much time he spent on his own

working on his skills

[Music]

carrington was a an ill at the back just

away from the training ground and he

used to go behind the hill and do his

training on his own and i asked him

about that one time you know and he said

well you know there's nobody there so i

don't have to worry if i do a skill

wrong or anything i can practice it

nobody's watching me so you're not

worried

you know so we practice everything you

know for a few days or whatever and then

he go and take it into training

every friday especially before the game

on the saturday be probably the one

eight times out of ten be the one to

score the winner in training

finished the game on a ronaldo goal

next goal wins it and he'd invariably

get the goal

we felt we had the best players we felt

we had the best team for a couple of

years

but you need to do it in champions

league to be cemented as a top a great

team

it was only giggsy and scolds you played

in that game that had been part of the

99 team and so all of us others

it was almost like a shadow

[Applause]

i don't think we've seen too many

transformations like with ronaldo he was

a teenage sensation yes he was

did any of us really foresee at that

point

that the levels of greatness that he

would achieve

probably not

[Music]

his time in manchester united was his

was his apprenticeship in many ways

bravo uh christiano

grand family

[Applause]

[Music]

people said to me how did you get that

skinny kid you know into that big muscle

muscle guy in six months

it took five and a half years that we

worked together for him to produce

what he wanted to produce it takes time

eleven times champions

[Applause]

i spoke to him a lot about staying and

he was like

i've dreamed about playing for real

madrid i've done everything here

i've had a great time i love this club i

loved my united always be part of me but

it's a new chapter now

[Music]

when you left manchester united for real

madrid you'd have seen something

completely different

[Music]

it was pretty clear immediately that

irrespective of

being the most stark problem in the

world the most successful club in the

world

this was going to be the biggest media

event in their entire history

we're going to dominate the rolling news

all over the

[Music]

000 world

in the bernabeu stadium and to be honest

[Music]

ronaldo

in the stadium looking up and around

what struck you was the number of

different nationalities

there were people from africa there were

people from all over asia it was a

snapshot of precisely what real madrid

wanted to achieve then and going forward

in marketing terms here's the best of

the work more than messi

more than kaka

and more than anyone uno

dos

[Applause]

it's a massive move when you go to one

of the giants in spain there's a

difference when you go there and the

expectancy levels are enormous

particularly of the big stars

people go to football matches are you

middle classes the people that go to the

opera

they're all members you know they don't

go there for a sing-song and an

atmosphere and a few beers they go there

to watch football and you have to

entertain them

the great players love it

one of the ways in which special can

become great is timing

this arriving era of social media of

games that bore players images and names

and we're in every living room around

the civilized world

when that spark became a fire because

ronaldo was good looking and hollywood

style and brilliant at his sport but

also cosmopolitan and aspirational and

those two forces meet head-on the

explosion is positive

[Music]

there has been a massive cultural change

it used to be that your family was

associated with a club they supported a

club and you supported the same team

now what happens is with the growth of

social media and gaming and the whole

digital landscape booming people's

loyalties are now with the players

ronaldo and messi were both born into a

world and a time in their career when

the social media landscape was quickly

changing in the media landscape in

particular we saw

the likes of facebook popping up

followed by twitter

someone who may live in say the

philippines wouldn't necessarily be able

to go watch him in a match but they can

reenact and become him through a game

[Music]

younger football fans now have this

access that's almost unfiltered and can

be 24 hours a day

run

[Applause]

he's constantly there constantly kind of

leading that evolution of how they

interact with their favorite players

[Music]

we will have a penalty shootout for a

place in the final of euro 2012.

portugal versus spain semifinals of the

european championship

penalty shootout

massive rivals doesn't get much bigger

than that

bruno alves for portugal

oh and he's hit the ball

ronaldo might not even get to take one

penalty shootouts are

horrendous in many ways

[Applause]

fabregas can do it for spain

and does

just

it's fabregas

and cristiano ronaldo

never even got the chat

to get the winning one that's what he

wants that's the nature of the man

the heartbeat of everything that he does

is is about the team and he knows that

something that comes hand in hand with

that if he does produce the goods he's

the personal one of us and he's not

ashamed of saying that he's not ashamed

in

wanting to win the ballon d'or and tell

people and let them understand that yeah

i want to win it and if i don't i'm not

happy

what's not to like about that

if you look back now at 2012

he was at the club that he'd yearned to

play for

he was already their dominant footballer

yet

he was suffering

barcelona were winning all the

popularity contests lionel messi was

winning all the ball on doors

and then when the wafer player of the

year award went to anders iniesta he

looked as if he was chewing a wasp he

patently didn't agree

and he didn't give up

who knew about it

now what's the difference last season

just this year we win this is the the

difference

and

because we

we've been better than them we played

better than them so we deserve to win

the league

this is the only difference

messi's more about creation and doing

beautiful things and joy of the game

ronaldo's an out now goal scorer

[Music]

this was a western there'd be a guy with

a white hat that would be messy of

course

and there'd be somebody who rustles

cattle and is gonna get shot down in the

final scene the black cat that would be

cristiano

he feeds off negativity you can give him

all the positives in it but you'll find

that one negative comment that will be

the one that's probably put on the door

of the hotel room that you're staying

and that's that's used as the fuel

what really stood out for me when i

first started work with him was

he would do a lot of the stuff that

other players

will play other players at high level

were just not willing to do

he would make incredible sacrifices

that a lot of others

just didn't have the time for

i saw the work that that boy put in from

the minute he woke up go in the gym do

his call go out onto the training ground

early do his tricks everything was

geared for him to becoming the best

player in the world not part of the part

[Applause]

to score 69 goals

you know in a calendar year 2013 is is

just phenomenal

when i was playing or certainly when i

started if you got one and two then you

were a brilliant player and that's what

all forwards um tried to do

but his numbers are crazy

left foot right for outside the box

inside the box

with his head

goals where you just think how

how has he even got that strike away

[Music]

just a phenomenal goal scoring machine

missy was best before but now he's

ronaldo time

the cumulus of the off the pitch

marketing and his on pitch exploits gave

him that 2013 ballon d'or

[Music]

thank you

[Applause]

[Music]

madrid winning le decima is one of the

great stories of football looking out

the tunnel and i can see the champions

league trophies is sitting on the podium

and when i got that view it it took my

breath away and i actually physically

went

took a deep breath like that and

cristiano had obviously heard that and

he just turned and looked over his

shoulder and went paul

don't worry 93 minutes just show how

close it was to going the other way

people are celebrating in the dressing

room the trophy's getting passed around

champagne's popping people are drinking

beers like the atmosphere is just

just incredible and then i saw a small

group of players

marcelo pepe and cristiano i had to ask

you know cristiano what are you talking

about and he said we're talking about

next year

we have to go and win it again

and i just thought wow

[Music]

[Music]

oh

[Music]

foreign

was

ronaldo's father died in 2005

uh when ronaldo was still just 20. he'd

suffered from alcoholism for quite a

while and he suffered from liver failure

[Music]

[Music]

she didn't just

show him love and protect him and give

him the freedom to move to lisbon age

12.

she demonstrated him

that survival that thriving

that being the best version of yourself

is relentless morning noon and night

my dream is always to have a son

young so i i have cristiano so i'm

i'm so proud for that

family

when the people ask me the question if

christianity changed my life of course

because you know

it's another member in the family

it's something is coming from your blood

i'm so happy in another way i'm happy

because you see his daddy still play

football still win things still fit

still good still

it was a moment where you kind of felt

ronaldo's not just conducting his

teammates he's conducting everybody

watching this

cristiano ronaldo

having on previous occasions

held himself back

to take what could be the decisive

winning penalty has put himself forward

here

to try and put his side

on the road to victory by putting the

first one in

ronaldo was needed where he had to step

forward

deafening whistles in his ears didn't

trouble ronaldo

slamming the ball home

i suppose the question in the group

stage was um is this functional

leadership is this going to work out is

ronaldo playing out some kind of

personal psycho drama here which is

going to have a negative effect on his

team and he just about trods the right

side of that line all the way through

[Applause]

a jump that was from cr7

it will be portugal in paris on sunday

maybe this is there

and their crown prince cristiano's year

[Music]

foreign

everyone thinking we already lost the

game

echoes of 1998 france in the final at

the start to france facing a team of

portuguese speakers whose star is

ronaldo

one of the key themes about cristiano

ronaldo

is that he's always thought

that he can't be beaten

[Applause]

the biggest criticism of him is for

these sort of

moments

when the drama takes over

he was on the pitch then he was off the

pitch

ronaldo's gone down he's coming off

and there aren't going to be tears this

was his stage

this is not how it was supposed to end

in france this summer for cristiano

ronaldo

[Music]

with him it's always you know it's about

him

he was shouting to every name he was

coordinating the players he was telling

giving some information

[Music]

i think almost everyone felt his

presence on the touchline

even during the game there must have

been 500 cuts to ronaldo on the bench it

was almost like he was the star player

even though he wasn't performing

he wants to be outright the best

and he knows if he wins the euros with

his national team

as

messi won anything with with argentina

so it puts him it's another feather in

his cape

[Music]

[Applause]

all set up to win that game it was

france's final it was their tournament

but there was another force acting on on

that team that went beyond being the

host nation how excited cristiano

ronaldo is

over the years might have thought he was

pretty selfish in terms of him the goals

that he scored the desire that he had

but i think when you look at him

in that final the way he was trying to

drive his his team his country forward

from the touchline i think that told you

everything how much he wanted to win

foreign

[Applause]

[Applause]

best players can evolve and change their

game to suit them

where they are at a certain point in

their career

[Applause]

he's obviously not going to be as quick

as an explosive as he was when he was 21

22 23 so he's playing the game to be as

effective as he can in the right areas

of the pitch

juventus had on a sporting level

achieved magnificent success they had

built a team that had reached two

champions league finals

yet there was a lot of criticism aimed

at juventus for not having managed to

capture the american market the

the asian market in much of the way that

say milan did

what they needed was the global money

maker a way of being recognized around

the world

[Music]

obviously quite a large part of their

motivation was that

this would be a great commercial signing

be great for the club's name for the

club's brand unfortunately this was

almost immediately challenged

in ronaldo's first season at juventus

news broke that las vegas police had

reopened an investigation into an

allegation by a woman called catherine

mayorga an american woman

who had

alleged that ronaldo had raped her in

2009.

catherine mayorga gave an interview in

2018 with the german magazine de chigo

about her own encounter with ronaldo and

the fact she decided to go public

in the wake of the metoo allegations and

the slightly changed

environment around

these kind of stories

mayorga had reportedly reached an

out-of-court settlement with ronaldo in

2010

there was a criminal investigation in

2018 but no proceedings were taken as

there was insufficient evidence to go

any further

[Music]

ronaldo has always maintained his

innocence but he has accepted the

existence of the out-of-court settlement

he then put out a tweet that stated a

complete denial of the allegations

[Music]

mariah

[Music]

ronaldo's

head first into anything that's gonna

make him a better player

in modern day football he's changed

massively because he's probably been the

top player that's really delved into

sport science and prolonging his career

yeah listen i think he's part of a group

of

sports people

of our generation who are playing well

into their 30s at the top level still

serena williams roger federer nadal

lebron

messi obviously tom brady

they make sacrifices that others don't

and they have that obsession that lives

and breathes inside of him that is just

that

the numbers that that

he's managed to to put on the board

and mind blown you know to go past pele

but to do it in you know european

football

it's just incredible

individual accolades

team awards trophies

his goal scoring record

you have to say that he's at genius

level as a footballer

he's probably the greatest footballer

that ever lived

what a jump that was from cr7

when i speak to christiano even now and

you just you listen to him speak and

there's a little bit of anger in there

even still that helps him get out on the

pitch and produce the moments that he's

still producing

you don't need it but you will find

something

that swishes that switch the lights that

fire to go out again