I always laugh when I hear stories and rumors about Cristiano Ronaldo’s disruptive presence in the Portuguese camp, because they are just stories.
I spent many years with him in the national team and I never had any problems. What I know is that he is not only a great professional, he also tries to help all the other members of the team.
Even just watching him gives you an idea of what you should do to succeed, but when you’re with Cristiano you get much more than that.
He’s the captain of the team and he’s always been a guy who talks a lot, but on or off the field, he also leads by example.
So when he goes to the gym earlier than everyone else, or does his physiotherapy and prepares his body and mind, he takes everyone with him.
He guided us and we followed him. I remember we all took ice baths and saunas at 2 a.m. because of him and, besides helping us recover physically, the important thing was that we did them together, the whole team.
Besides creating an ideal team spirit, I always saw it as an opportunity to learn from the best. In today’s game, you have instant access to a lot of information and data, and players will do their own research to find out what works and what doesn’t for them.
But Cristiano has the ability to speak with the best experts – in all fields – in the world and the good news is that he is happy to share it with everyone.
He will talk about anything you ask him because he wants to improve you and the team and that creates a good working environment.
