The dream almost fell apart for the boy from Madeira. Cristiano Ronaldo would go on to become a household name and global soccer icon in the years after his move from Sporting Lisbon to Manchester United. With United fans even coining the chant, “There’s only one Ronaldo!”. This was an era when Ronaldo Nazario was regarded as the best forward in the world. But that only remained true until a young Cristiano lit up Old Trafford and soon after Real Madrid. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Cristiano Ronaldo went on to win the UEFA Euros with Portugal apart from five UEFA Champions League titles and five Ballon d’Or awards. Ronaldo joined Saudi Pro League club Al Nassr earlier this year for a record $500 million contract at the age of 38. This was following a rather maligned return to Man United in 2022. Despite the move seeming odd for Ronaldo, it was only after he achieved everything a soccer player could while playing for Europe’s elite clubs.

Cristiano Ronaldo almost quit Sporting Lisbon because of struggles

It wasn’t all smooth sailing for Cristiano Ronaldo. A new book titled: Messi vs. Ronaldo: One Rivalry, Two GOATs, and the Era That Remade the World’s Game reveals certain aspects of Ronaldo’s early years at Sporting Lisbon where he struggled and almost quit soccer entirely.

According to the book, after Sporting scouted Ronaldo at the age of 12, he found it difficult to adjust to life in Lisbon. The book states that Ronaldo was bullied and teased considerably by other boys because of his heavy Madeiran accent. He also got into several fights with boys in the schoolyard. While in school, Ronaldo once threw a chair at a teacher because she allegedly made fun of his accent. It doesn’t stop there, Ronaldo also cried every day for months on end and wanted to quit because he missed his family and childhood friends.

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Ronaldo’s school grades were poor. He was also absent from class a lot. The book also accounts that Sporting Lisbon directors threatened to send the young Ronaldo home because of this. Ronaldo recounted in the years hence that, “I always felt that I wasn’t cut out for school. So what was the point?”

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CR7 would overcome these obstacles and go full-time as a youth player at Sporting Lisbon by the age of 14. But he still was at odds with the management over certain things.

Ronaldo built a physique despite being allowed to

The book also states that Sporting had a policy to not let teenagers go to the gym to work on their physique. But Ronaldo was adamant to do so, to bulk up so that he couldn’t be pushed off the ball by opponents.

The book quotes a Sporting executive named Aurelio Pereira, saying  “We never put children in gyms. That is one of the secrets behind our players’ long careers. It’s important to let them grow naturally.”

According to the book, Ronaldo would sneak out of his dorm room deep into the night to go to the gym. This forced the club to put a padlock on the gym. However, Ronaldo then started to fill buckets full of water and lift them to put on muscle. He even wore weights around his ankles and raced cars on the street. And he continues to put in the hours in the gym even at Al Nassr as per this tweet.

A fitness coach at Sporting named Carlos Bruno, later said, “He always wanted more. Most players, when the training goes on too long, they say, ‘Hey, coach, too much water kills the plant, you know?’ Cristiano was a guy who always wanted more water in the plant.”

These quotes come as no surprise and reveal a bit about Cristiano’s mindset and work ethic despite being a teenager. He has gone on to achieve unparalleled success in the world of soccer. It’s certainly interesting to hear these accounts about his early years. Especially since he almost quit soccer entirely. But as the old saying goes, “Fortune favors the brave.” And Cristiano Ronaldo certainly soldiered on to become one of soccer’s greatest-ever players.

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