Cristiano Ronaldo has lifted the lid on a number of personal subjects - including his late father - in a candid television interview.
Speaking on The Jonathan Ross Show, which will be broadcast on ITV this Saturday, the Real Madrid star opened up about various aspects of his life.
The three-time Ballon d'Or winner spoke about his relationship with former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, his love life, his son's desire to be a goalkeeper and much more.
You can read extracts from the interview below.
On Sir Alex Ferguson's accent
“I still don’t understand him! In the beginning, I had a translator, a Brazilian man, of course, basically only for him.”
On Ferguson's advice
“He [taught] me in both ways in terms of player… and in terms of personal stuff. I just have to say thank you for what he did for me. Especially when I remember the thing that I have [most] in my memories, the time when my father was sick in hospital and we had a tough moment of the season because we had an important game in the Champions League and I said, ‘Coach I need to go to see my daddy’ and I was a key player, I was a very important player and he said, ‘Listen, your personal life, your family is the important thing that you have in your life. If you want to go three days, four days, five days you can go.’ This moment is what I keep for me because it was the most important time in my life and he shared it with me. This is why I respect him and for me he's the best coach I ever had.”
On his father, who died of alcoholism in 2005
“I’m not complaining. It’s the life. Of course as I say in my movie, I wish to have a better dad in that way [but] it is what it is. I have to respect the decisions he made, the decisions I made in my life and I’m happy because it [taught] me many things, him and my mum and my brothers and I’m a happy man, you know, I just have him in my mind all the time but it's good that life is like that. And we have to respect and when I speak about him I feel so proud because he [taught] me many things and it’s great. I’m not unhappy, I’m so happy.”
On how the movie came about
“I just was in shock, a movie about me?
“No I understand them, they are looking for the best player in the world so…”
On his son's ambitions to be a goalkeeper
"Yes, this is going to be a huge problem for me. He changes his mind every second. You know kids, he’s five and he changes his mind all the time but he’s going to be whatever he wants, I don’t make pressure because my father and my mum never made pressure to me so I’m not going to do this to my son.”
On people who aren't nice to his mum
“They’re never going to be with me, next to me because I have security and [they can] make him sleep so!”
On his mum taking tranquilisers before watching him play
“I just make a rule, big games she cannot watch. It’s true, I don’t take her to my box or I put someone in the home to go and walk with her when the game starts. It’s the solution… I understand my family cannot deal [with it] because it’s difficult when press start to speak on television all the time… They always speak about the same thing and if you watch TV you become more anxious, more nervous and I avoid all of that because I don’t watch TV, I don’t read newspapers, so I live comfortable, I just live my life comfortably, just training hard, playing better as much as I can and it’s good. I don’t have pressure.”
On his son growing up with a famous dad
“It’s not easy, it’s not going to be easy but for me in my mind the way of thinking, it’s all about education. If you will give good education, he will be strong and he will now appreciate the things. I cannot avoid to show him a good car, good houses, a good quality of life. You cannot avoid you know… If you will be in my shoes what are you going to do? It’s all about education, you have to give good education and pass to him. [I tell him] to win this, Daddy works hard, to have this house, to have this car. I cannot do anything more and my mum helps him a lot, my brothers, the education of family is kind of similar and Cristiano is going to have the same education as me and after in the future, he’s going to be whatever he wants. I cannot control that.”
“I have to tell him the way I see the life, the proper life, not too much because he has to grow like a normal kid but a few things that I think are not correct, I have to tell him.”
On his son growing up without a mother
“For me it is not a problem. I will say in the world, many kids don't have mum, don’t have dads or dads die or mums die... Cristiano has a dad, an unbelievable dad. [He has] a grandmother, I have the support of my family, great of course. It will be like, ‘why don’t you [say?]’ Listen, some points in life it’s private and people have to respect the privacy of other people. When Cristiano is going to grow up, I am always always going to say the truth to him because he deserves, because he is my son but I am not going to say because people want me to say.”
On whether he will tell his son about his mother
"Yes."
On when he will tell his son
“I’m not worried about that, he’s going to understand his daddy, he is going understand I am sure 100%. 100% he is going to understand me. I’m going to say the time when I feel that the time, that is the right time. I don’t know 10, 11, 12? I don’t know let’s see.”
On whether there is "someone special" in his life
“A few. I need to figure out who is better.”
On finding women for a relationship
“Well it’s not easy, of course not. To speak serious, it’s not easy. I know 50 per cent they approach just for interest, it’s normal, not just me but all the people who are famous they have these kinds of problems. But in another way, I think I’m a confident guy, I’m tall, I have [my] own teeth, I have a nice body so I think the other 50 per cent it’s because…”
On being a coach when he stops playing
“No passions to be a coach, I want to carry on with my brands… I have many brands and I want that still, I want still to grow with my brands.”
On who will win this year's Ballon d'Or
“To be honest I think Messi is going to win this year because this kind of trophy, it depends on votes. You win competitions, you win Champions League you win the league in terms of individual. I did probably the best season of my career which is good and I was the highest scorer in Europe [but] it’s all about votes, it’s difficult and to be honest I’m not very worried about that because as I said many times, I never [thought I’d] win three times to be honest.”
On Lionel Messi
“I don’t have rivals, we have a normal relationship. We shared this stage at FIFA [for] eight years. No one has done that in the past - only us - so it’s good. I have a good relationship with him, he plays for one club, I play for another club. He won the best for him, I won the best for me. We have a good relationship, we are not home friends but we respect each other.”
On which English team he supports
“I’m a huge supporter of Manchester United - as I say many times, I’m very comfortable in Real Madrid now, I feel happy… But as people know I like Manchester United, I love that club, but [the] future, nobody knows. But right now I feel good and I feel happy in Real Madrid.”
On playing in the US or Dubai
“In my mind I want to finish in the top level, I want to finish with dignity so in a good club. It doesn’t mean that to go USA or Qatar or Dubai is not good but I don’t see myself…"
You can watch the full interview with Ronaldo on The Jonathan Ross Show, live on ITV at 9.45pm on Saturday November 14.
