Cristiano Ronaldo Didn’t Want To End His Career In The Middle East | The Jonathan Ross Show

I think you have one or two fans in this evening. So nice to have you here. Why do you not do this kind of show more often? You must be asked an awful lot, I'm sure. No time. No time? No time. Just too busy? Yeah, kind of. Many trainings, many games. We have to travel a lot. And basically, difficult. Difficult. We don't have a lot of time. But it must be a nice feeling to be here and knowing these people are going crazy for you and people at home are excited about seeing you. That must be quite a good feeling. Well, it's an unbelievable feeling. I was here in England for six years and I respect English people a lot because they are very polite and they respect... Serious, serious. That felt like a warning. No, but it's true. The timing that I spend here, the people treat me unbelievable. I'm never going to forget that. So this is why I say, and I'm going to repeat, English people, they are polite. For me. Because they respect. The Ballon d'Or is FIFA's kind of idea of who is the best overall footballer this last year. You have won it three times. La Messi has won it four times. So you hold that at the moment. And we're coming up in January, I think, they will announce who has it. January, yeah. And obviously you would like it to be you. We'll win. APPLAUSE If I had have known Sepp Blatter was coming... LAUGHTER So what are your estimation of how it might go and what are your feelings about the result either way? To be honest, I think you're going to win. Messi is going to win this year. Yeah, but you know, it's FIFA, just... LAUGHTER You know what I'm saying? How do you get on with Lionel Messi now? I heard you say that you're a little bit closer, you're a bit more relaxed together. You used to see him just as a rival. Now you see him more as a human being. I don't have rivals, I don't have... We have a normal relationship. We share this stage there in FIFA, eight years. No-one's did that in the past. It's only us. So it's good. I have a good relationship with him. He play for one club, I play for another club. He won the best for him, I won the best for me. So it's normal. We have a good relationship. You know, we don't have... We are not home friends, but, you know, we respect each other. That looks like a very good relationship right now. LAUGHTER What is he wearing? Well, let me talk... There's so many questions to ask you, but let me talk about your time here with Manchester United then. How old were you when you came over to join Manchester United? You were just 18? 18, yeah. 18 years old. And you'd already left home at 12, I think, to go to Lisbon, so you were used to living away from home. But coming here and meeting British people and having to work with Sir Alex Ferguson, that must have been quite a shock in some ways, I imagine? Not really. It was the key why I'm moving here to England. Because I remember I had a conversation with him when we played Sporting against Manchester and we had a quick chat and he told me, listen, I'm interested in you. I want you to join us in Manchester. It was the key. So, he's an unbelievable person. He treats me very good. As I say many times, he's like a father for me in football. So, I have to appreciate what he did for me. I spent six years in Manchester. Very good. I won many titles in terms of collective and individual. It was unbelievable timing for me here in England. Well, your English now is very good. Well, I try my best. And this isn't me just being polite, it is very good. But when you first came, I guess it wasn't as good. And certainly, I have spoken it all my life, but I find it hard to understand Alex Ferguson sometimes. That must have been difficult for you at first. But I still don't understand him. I had a translator, a Brazilian man. So, you had a translator for all British people or just for Alex Ferguson? Well, basically, only for him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What things do you remember then? What things did he help you with? Which things did he teach you about to become a better footballer or a better person? Well, he teached me in both ways. 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 more in my memory is the time when my father was sick in hospital. And it was, we had a tough moment of the season because we had important games in the Champions League, in the league. And I say, 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 family is the most important that you have in your life. If you want to go three days, four days, five days, you can go. These moments is what I keep for me because it was the most important moments in my life. And he shared with me. This is why I respect him. And for me, he's the best coach I ever had. You know, you mentioned, you said earlier, he was like, you've said this before, he was like your father in the world of football. And there you just mentioned your biological father who died in 2005, I think. Yeah. You know, I think a lot of us, I'm not that close with my father, but I have a couple of memories from when I was young that I remember very fondly, which are quite special to me. Do you have memories when you were young of you with him that you treasure above the other memories? Yes, I have unbelievable memories. When I started to play football, my father was so proud of me because, you know, he was a kid man of a football club. And a few goals, I scored goals, and the next day it came in the paper, like a small part, and he was so proud, he put it in his paper, and he showed his old friends in the neighbourhood. It's unbelievable memories that I have. And it's great. I just have these memories in my mind of my father, of these small moments. You talk about that in the film. Why do the film? Who came to you with the film? How did the film Ronaldo happen? And what was it that made you want to do it? What did you want to share? What message did you want to send out? Well, basically, when Universal came to me, and to my team, and said, listen, I'm interested to do a documentary about you. It was like, in the beginning, I just... I'm in shock. I said, a movie about me? He said, why me? Why not Lionel Messi? I understand him, because they're looking for the best player in the world. And I think at the end of the day, the last result, it's good. I'm not showing something fake. It's me. The people who really know me, my friends and my family, they're not going to be surprised. But I did the movie for my fans. As you know, the guy who has more followers, it's me. Not by coincidence. It's because people like me. Probably. Well, you can't say that often enough about yourself, of course. But it's true. So I did. So I did for them. For my fans. Especially because they're always with me in the great moments, and in the bad moments, too. So I did for them. But let's show a clip. This is the film Ronaldo. It's available. You can watch it on DVD. You can stream it. All that kind of stuff. All the modern stuff. But this is it. Ronaldo. There are some very intimate moments there. You see Ronaldo with his son there. It's a very funny moment there, where he says, Is he serious that he wants to be a goalkeeper? Do you know? Yes. And this is... It's going to be a huge problem for me. What are you going to do about that? But it changes mine every second. How old is he now? Five. Yeah, five. And it changes mine all the time. But it's going to be whatever you want. I don't make pressure. Because my father and my mum never make pressure to me. So I'm not going to do this to my son. Also, I noticed this. Have you seen Wayne Rooney's little boy? Who seems like a lovely little boy. He went out to play recently and he had a tattoo on his arm. Not an actual tattoo, I don't think. I think it was a transfer. But who knows with the Rooney's. Have a look at this. Okay, so you see what was on his arm there. There you go. Now, if your little boy came home with Rooney on his arm, would that be cool? Would that be okay? No problem. Okay. Yes, no problem. What about if you had Messi on his arm? No problem. If you will do that, it's because he's smart. He knows he's a good player. That's fair enough. That's a good point. It is. Yeah, that's a lovely answer. Well, we'll talk about your son a little bit more. But your mother, obviously, is a hugely important part of your life. She figures quite heavily in the movie. She's a passionate supporter of you. And obviously, she loves her whole family. You can see that. But one thing that amazes me is that she says in the film, and you're there, that you were an unwanted child. She didn't want to keep you. Mm-hmm. Now, that must be a shocking thing. The first time you hear that, that must be... No. Normal. But for you to hear that, I know it happens a lot. But I mean... Don't change nothing in my mind. Nothing. You see in the film how stressed she gets. She's very involved in your career. And when she sees you playing, I mean, it's almost too much for her sometimes. Too much. Yeah. And she takes tranquilizers to help her get through this. How does that affect you, though, knowing you're playing, but knowing she is going through that as well? Does that ever figure in your mind during a match, or...? No. I just make a rule. Big games, you know, she cannot watch. LAUGHTER It's true. I don't take her to my box, or I put someone in home to go walk with her when games start. Until it's over. It's the solution. And how important is she to you now? For example, if someone... If you had a friend who didn't show love to your mother, respect your mother, how long would they stay a friend for? They're never going to be with me, next to me. Because they have security and make him sleep, so... So true. So don't mess with Mama. Once again, this is touched upon in the film, of course. You have never revealed, and I don't think you ever intend to reveal or share, the identity of the mother of your son. OK? Cristiano's mother. And the thing that occurred to me while watching the film was, your mother is so central and important to your life, but he does not have that relationship with his mother. Mm-hm. Surely that must concern you. For me, it's not a problem. Obviously, in the world, many kids don't have mum, don't have dad. Or dads die, or mums die, and they beat them up. I have Cristiano, I have a dad, unbelievable dad. I have grandfather, grandmother. I have support of my family. Yeah. Great. Of course, it will be like, why he don't open? Listen, some points in life, it's private. And people have to respect the privacy of the people, you know? When Cristiano going to grow up, I'm always, always going to say the truth to him, because he deserve, because it's my son. But I'm not going to say because people want me to say. Yeah. You don't owe the world an explanation. Exactly. But you obviously feel that you would owe him the truth. Yeah. What age do you think, I mean, presumably he asks already, but when will you share with him? I'm not worried about that. He going to understand his daddy. He going to understand. I'm sure 100%. 100%. He going to understand me. I'm going to say the time when I feel that is the right time. I don't know. 10, 11, 12. I don't know. Let's see. You know, your son, the life he has, in many ways, but not in all ways, but in many ways, could not be more different from the life you had at his age. When you were five years old, you were on Madeira, is that right? Yes. Small island, Portuguese island. I guess, how many cars did your father have when you were five? Yeah, small cars, yeah, many. Toys, but did he have an actual car? No, no. He didn't even have a car? No. How many cars do you have right now? I don't know. Yeah. That's a big difference. I don't know. That's a good other thing. Because there's a funny scene in the movie where you pick your son up from school in a Rolls Royce, of course, and you get him up and say, come and see which one's missing, which one's missing, and he's going, I don't know, is it the Porsche? No, no, look, look, look, look. And then he goes, Lamborghini. Yes, why didn't you want to see the Lamborghini? He's five, and he has to know which car's missing. So my question is, do you ever worry about that? Do you ever worry about what your life will give him growing up that you didn't have? Because obviously, although you had, from the outside for many people, you had a tough life and you didn't have those comforts, but he has maybe too many, he has maybe too much available. How do you approach that? It's not easy. It's not going to be easy. But for me, in my mind, the way I'm thinking, it's all about education. If you will give good education, he will be strong. He will know, 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? Yeah, because you have that. Exactly. You cannot avoid. What I have to do? 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 to pass to him, listen, to win this, daddy, work hard, to have this house, to have this car. I cannot do anything more. Here's another little clip. I want to show you this. It's lovely, because the thing that I took away from the film, as much as anything else, was the closeness and the love you have for him and he has for you. It's a very sweet and very special relationship. This is Cristiano with his son in the film. That's lovely. If you could do that with him when he's 20 on your back, then I'd be impressed. That's real training. That's what Rooney does. What about other aspects of your personal life? Is there a special someone in your life right now? A few. And of the few specials... I have to figure it out. You have to figure it out. Do they know they're competing? Someone knows, yeah. You must be exhausted. But is it hard meeting people? Obviously, may I say this, you're a very beautiful man. Well... I'm normal. This is normal. This is slightly below normal. But no, you're an attractive man. But I wonder, with the attention and with the focus on your life and with the interest from the press and so on, is it tough for you to make that first move, to trust someone the first time? Well, it's not easy, of course. Not to speak seriously. It's not easy. I know. 50% of the approach is for interest. It's normal. Not just me, but all the people who are famous, they have this kind of problem. But in another way, I think I'm a confidence guy. I'm tall, I have all teeth, so I have a nice body. So I think sometimes the other 50%, it's because, you know... Because they like you. Yes, I think so. You're a good-looking piece of meat. Yeah. Look at that. Not bad, eh? I don't want to be like Alex Ferguson, but my advice would be let someone else say that first. That's you doing the Hulk, isn't it? Is that your kind of Hulk celebration thing? It was in the Champions League final. I love the fact you're just enjoying that photograph. OK. Let me ask you about what's going on in the future for you, because any professional sportsman at your level of the game, obviously you have a limited career as a player. You're still going strong. What do you have in mind for the future? What are you thinking of for the future? Is coaching an option? No. I don't think so. No passions to be a coach. Maybe I want to carry on with my brands, with my shoes, with my underwear, with my shirts. Because you're into the fashion in a big way, aren't you? I like it with my shoes. You know, I have many brands, and I want that still... I want to still grow with my brand. That's you in the CR7 pants, of course. Yeah. It's weird, because they look different on me. You maybe just do one of the slightly more elasticated waistbands. Who do you like watching from the world of football? What about English footballers? Who do you enjoy watching play in the British teams right now? Well, I'm a huge supporter of Manchester United. Yes. Would you ever come back to Manchester United? As I say many times, I'm very comfortable in Real Madrid now. I feel happy. Well, that's kind of where you always wanted to be, really, wasn't it? Yeah, of course. 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. When you start moving on from this level of your career, would you go and play in an LA team? Would you go and play in a team elsewhere? In my mind, I want to finish in the top level. I want to finish with dignity. So, good, you know, in a good club. It doesn't mean that to go to the USA or Qatar or Dubai, it's not good, but I don't see myself... You wouldn't want that for you? No. Look, it's lovely having you here. Cristiano's going to stay around for the rest of the show, ladies and gentlemen. Will you join me in saying thank you to him? I'm just so excited and thrilled that he came on the show. Mr Cristiano Ronaldo!