Ronaldo reveals Romario's devious tactics for Brazil; 'We returned at 5 AM, was exhausted'

One of the greatest footballers to grace, Ronaldo Nazario opened up about his relationship with Brazilian teammate Romario. They both had an amazing connection on the field and scored some sensational goals and led Brazil to the World Cup as well. But according to Ronaldo, his fellow Brazil football teammate was not exactly the nicest person off the field.

Speaking on Twitch show Bobo TV, Ronaldo said that he learnt a lot from Romario on the field as he was an inspiration. But then further said that he was not the nicest off the field as he would get the younger players to clean his boots and bring him coffee. He then mentioned an incident in 1997, when Ronaldo had already won the first of his two Ballon d'Ors, during a training camp for the Copa America, Romario told him to get ready as they would be going out. They went out and came back to the hotel at 5 AM in the morning and Ronaldo was very tired during training that day. Ronaldo said he understood that Romario only took him out to tire him so he could take his spot in the starting XI.

"I learned a lot from Romario and Bebeto. They were an inspiration for me even if Romario was a motherf***** because he forced young players to clean his boots or bring him coffees. A few years later, in 1997 I was an important player already. I had already won the Ballon d’Or and during the training retreat for the Copa America, Romario suddenly told me: ‘Get ready, we go out tonight, don’t worry.’ He had prepared a ladder to climb over the hotel’s wall and there was a taxi waiting for us on the other side. We returned at 5 am and I was exhausted the following day in training. I understood that Romario did it on purpose to tire me out and take my spot in the starting XI."

Ronaldo vs Romario: The Ro-Ro Attack

The two were a deadly duo together. They scored a total of eight goals amongst themselves in the 1997 Copa America final against Bolivia. It was followed by a hattrick each in their 6-0 win over Australia in the 1997 Confederations Cup final. Overall that year, they scored 34 international goals of which Romario scored 19 and the rest came from Ronaldo.

Image: AP