Ronaldo Nazario is one of only a handful of footballers to have played for Barcelona and Real Madrid, and he had success at both clubs. However, he was only in Catalonia for one season, whereas he spent five years in the Spanish capital.
In an interview with fellow Brazilian icon Romario (via Diario AS), Ronaldo reflected on that one season at Barcelona. Specifically, he addressed his abrupt exit in 1997, as he revealed that he had been promised a new contract by the club before being notified not long after that he was being sold to Inter Milan.
“It was a punch in the gut. I was loving the city.
“For me, they have had a very big management problem for a long time. Rivaldo went off fighting. Ronaldinho went off fighting, Neymar went fighting… Look at the story Barcelona created with so many successful Brazilians, but in the end the relationship deteriorated and ended very badly.”
Ronaldo, who is still involved with Spanish football as he is the owner of Real Valladolid, also spoke on his time at Real Madrid, whom he recently spoke on in the regards to last year’s Ballon d’Or controversy. He identified his best and worst teammate from the five-year spell at the Santiago Bernabeu.
“Zidane was the best player. He was very different. He had a lot of class, he was very technical, simple. He played too much. Ronaldinho also played a lot. The worst teammate? There are many, many. There was one at Real Madrid who was a joke, (Thomas) Gravesen. He was a Danish midfielder. He was a really cool guy, good person. Not long ago he won a $50 million poker tournament or something. But in football he was very bad, he scored hard and hit hard.”
