“Sir, this changing room smells like alcohol.” It was right”: Capello remembers his time at Real Madrid – Real Madrid

The Italian coach also explained the reason for his decision to dismiss Ronaldo, “the phenomenon.”

Fabio Capello recalled his periods at Real Madrid (1996/1997 and 2006/2007) at a university in Milan, especially the last period that was marked by the dismissal of the Brazilian Ronaldo. But the “phenomenon” was not the only one that, in the Italian coach’s opinion, showed a lack of professionalism in the Merengue dressing room.

The 77-year-old coach said: “In February 2007, I decided to dismiss Ronaldo. He loved parties and participated in the group.” “That year [2007] His weight was 94 kilograms. At the World Cup in Korea in 2002, he weighed 82. I asked him to lose weight and he reached 92.5.”

Capello recalls that Silvio Berlusconi, then Milan president, called him to ask for information about Ronaldo and advised the coach not to sign him. “He called me one day to ask for advice about a virtual purchase. I advised against it, and told him I was a festival-goer, and only thought about women. ‘Okay, thanks, Fabio,’ he said. The next day, the news arrived that ‘Ronaldo was in Milan.’ .

But it seems that the Brazilian was not the only problem that Capello had on his hands. “One day, Ruud van Nistelrooy said to me: ‘Sir, here in the dressing rooms there smells of alcohol.’ It was true,” explained the former Italian coach.

The coach admitted that he also had problems with Antonio Cassano. “I had a fight with Cassano. He was asking for French fries before every match, which was unacceptable. I was more annoyed with the coach than with him. I didn’t understand why he did those things.”

Written by Isabelle Dantas