Ronaldo (the Brazilian one) could have been the ‘number one in history’, alongside Lionel Messi and Diego Maradona – Capello

Fabio Capello believes former Brazil striker Ronaldo would have been “the number one in history” had he been willing to curb his excessive lifestyle.

Capello worked with Ronaldo at Real Madrid but became increasingly frustrated by the player’s lack of self-discipline which inevitably led to injury problems.

By that time, Ronaldo had already suffered serious knee problems that saw his game diminish from the explosive young striker that had emerged as arguably the best player in the world during spells with PSV Eindhoven, Barcelona and Inter Milan.

The relationship with Capello eventually came to an acrimonious end in January 2007 when he signed for AC Milan, the Brazilian departing the Santiago Bernabeu by thanking all the coaches he had at Madrid “except one”.

Injuries derailed Ronaldo’s career – Capello

Despite their fall-out, Capello retains the belief that Ronaldo could have been the greatest of all-time.

He told El Mundo: “Without the injuries and by taking care of himself, he would have been the number one in history, at the level of [Lionel] Messi and [Diego] Maradona.

“In one aspect [the injuries] he couldn’t and on the other [the lifestyle] he didn’t want to. There are soccer players who are like that.”

He was fat – Capello

Asked how he came to the decision to let him leave Madrid, Capello said: “He was fat. He didn’t want to lose weight and he liked the good life too much.

“In addition, the worst thing was that he dragged his team-mates into that life and ended up creating an even more serious problem for me.

“I gave him the option to lose weight and behave but he didn’t want to. Out. There’s no more.”

Guti was another who couldn’t knuckle down – Capello

Capello said, in that respect, Ronaldo was similar to Guti, another supremely talented former Real Madrid man who probably didn’t hit the heights his talents merited.

“He could have been anything he wanted,” he said of the former Spain midfielder. “I talked to him all the time and said, ‘why don’t you sacrifice yourself a little? Lead an orderly life for a while and at 36 years old, when you’ve done everything, you can dedicate yourself to enjoying things?’

“And he answered me, ‘mister, you have to have a good time now before it’s too late’. There was no way to convince him. 

“For players like Ronaldo or Guti I always like to highlight how important Raúl was in Madrid. He didn’t have the pure talent of the others, but he was so intelligent and so ambitious that it didn’t matter. That’s the soccer player I want.”