EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW IN FULL: Cristiano Ronaldo with All Football

As Cristiano Ronaldo is awarded All Football 2017 Best Player of the Year, he sat down for an exclusive interview with us on January 25th. The Portugal and Real Madrid star touched on a series of topics including his future at Real Madrid, his recent eye injury and Portugal national team's chances of winning the 2018 World Cup, etc.

Apart from the full interview video, we also provide you with a full transcript of what Ronaldo shared with us. Furthermore, as Ronaldo turns 33 years old today, we wish him a very happy birthday and best of luck with his career. Enjoy!

FULL INTERVIEW

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FULL TRANSCRIPT

Q: All Football

A: Cristiano Ronaldo

Q: Congratulations on being Dongqiudi & All Football Player of the Year for two years in a row! This time, over 1.3 millions of fans from around the world have voted you as the best player.

We’re going to present you with the award - which is a bit heavy and you have held it for two years now - and also a gift which is made by all the fans. As you can see, many of them have posed for your signature gesture...

A: Oh... Pictures. Very small pictures.

Q: Yeah very small pictures. More than 50 thousand of them have sent us the pictures. So, tell us your thoughts on being All Football Player of the Year for two years in a row.

A: For me it’s a big honour. It’s important to be recognized from the fans especially in China, and it’s nice to win trophies. It means that I did a fantastic year and I won trophies. So I’m very glad and thank them for voting for me and giving me this award for the second time.

Q: And we also heard that you have some New Year’s greetings for all of them...

A: All Football fans, happy New Year!

Eye injury

Q: Thank you very much and let us begin the interview. How is your eye now? Because we saw the match when the team was leading 6-1, you still went for the ball and headed that in, but you also hurt your eye. It’s literally blood, sweat and tear in your game, fans are concerned by your situation...

A: It’s part of the game - the injuries. Sometimes it’s in the leg, sometimes it’s in the back and this time was in my eye. I tried to score a goal and I didn’t expect that he would kick my face but it’s part of the game.

You know, I’m used to people kicking me in games to stop me, but this time I wasn’t lucky because it opened a little bit of my eye but it’s getting better. I feel I’m happy because I have good vision. No problem. 

The year of 2017

Q: I’m now looking at the winner of La Liga, Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, Club World Cup, and individually the winner of Ballon d’Or and also the only player in history to have scored in all 6 group matches of Champions League... The list goes on and on and just tell us how good 2017 was for you...

A: A magic year. It was an unbelievable year, we won everything: Champions League, La Liga and all the collective trophies. So it was unbelievable, probably the best season in my career so far. 

So glad it was amazing in terms of individual and collective (prizes), so it’s a fantastic year.

Q: Last year we sat here and talked about how great your 2016 was for you and now we’re talking about even a greater year of 2017. At the age of 32 for you, is it something that you kind of expected because we - at least we do not see you stopping.

A: I’m always prepared to be at the top level all the time. For me, the age is not really important. If you take care of your body and your mind, do the right things, train well, eat well and sleep well and train smarter. I think it’s great, as I said before, the age does not really matter. If you say the last two years were my best years in my career so it was good.

It means that age is not important so I am glad and motivated - I’m still motivated to carry on with my job, to enjoy the people, to win trophies. And I’m good, I’m ready for the next few years.

Q: So it’s all about self-discipline.

A: Of course. If you don’t have discipline and if you are not professional, you’re not gonna get important things. This is why I try to do (with discipline) all the time. Since the start of my career, I have always done that and tried to be the most professional possible.

With age, you get experience. So I feel good, as I say before I’m still young and I have good energy, so I want to carry on more and more.

5-time Ballon d’Or winner

Q: For the past 10 years, you have shared the Ballon d’Or awards with Lionel Messi. For the last five years you’ve won it four times and it’s incredibly 5-5 at the moment. So would it be even sweeter for you to win it in 2018 and actally surpass Messi? Because people like to make a competition out of it.

A: Well you never know. To be honest I never thought in my mind that I would win one Golden Ball or two. Imagine five... So if I’m not going to win more, I’m still very, very, very proud of myself. But of course my ambition is to win more individual and collective awards and trophies. 

But I’m not obsessed for the Golden Ball. Things come in a natural way so it’s good that for the last 10 years I shared the prize with Leo. It’s good he won five (times) and I won five (times). So it’s good to share an important trophy with a great football player. So I’m good, I feel happy with my career and I want to carry on.

Real Madrid

Q: Coming off the back of such an amazing year for Real Madrid, the start to this season has not been ideal. What is the difference between now and last season?

A: Last season was unbelievable and that was the best season. In this year (season), we didn’t start very well, we have had some bad results, we’re not good in La Liga, we’re knocked out yesterday in Copa Del Rey so it’s not good.

We’re not happy. Real Madrid are not happy. Ourselves, we’re not happy. But you know, in football everything change. We have to be motivated and still work because we still have the Champions League and World Cup will come later this year.

So our goal is to try to win the Champions League because it’s the most important trophy. But we are a little bit disappointed because we didn’t play out level - every player. And I hope these things change and the only way to change this is to keep working.

Q: The defeat at El Clasico has seen the gap between Real Madrid & Barcelona widened. The gap is widened, so what do you think of Real’s chances of retaining the La Liga title this season?

A: Well this year, to be honest, will be difficult but we’re not gonna give up. Real Madrid never give up, but you know it’s gonna be very, very, very difficult and as I said before, we didn’t start very well and we dropped many points but the only solution to change this is to work hard and carry on like that.

It’s hard, it’s disappointing, but it’s the only way.

Q: Would you agree that any disappointment this season would be the direct consequences of the high standards you’ve set here because last year was really too good to replicate.

A: Don’t exist the perfect scenarios. To achieve good things, you have to feel sometimes they’re ours to lose - the important games and big competitions. We are very, very disappointed - Real Madrid and the fans, the coaches. But as I said before, it’s still early.

Maybe, if you ask me, at the end of the year Real Madrid win the Champions League, you’ll answer “unbelievable season, you win the Champions League”. You never know. In football, you never know what’s gonna happen. 

I still believe that we are a fantastic team and we have a good chance of winning the Champions League. We know it’s gonna be tough but I think it’s possible. The only way to win this trophy is to carry on in La Liga (first). Every time you play (in Champions League), you’re gonna need good conditions to play at a good level in Champions League.

But as I said before, we’re not gonna give up and we’ll still carry on to be good in Champions League.

Q: How is your life in Madrid by the way, do you like living here?

A: Of course I like living here, I’ve lived in Madrid since 2009 and it’s all good. I love the weather and the people. It’s near to Portugal and you can go to Portugal by car for example.

And it (Spain) is a great country. I love this country and of course I want to stay here because you know for all the things that I told you, I love the club - it’s amazing, and I love the life here.

Portugal national team

Q: 2018 would be an important year for international football. We all know that there is only trophy missing in your cabinet, which is the World Cup. I guess you must have huge expectation towards the journey in Russia this summer.

A: Of course. We’re very motivated and excited to play the 2018 World Cup in Russia. As I said before, I’ve always dreamed of winning something important for Portugal national team and in 2016 we won (European Championship).

If you ask me would you love that (winning 2018 World Cup with Portugal), of course I would say yes, but my goal is already done (accomplished) because we won the Championship (in 2016).

We are not the favourites in the World Cup, which is good for us in my opinion. The favourites are Spain, Germany, France, Argentina and Brazil. So we’re not the favourites, but we always compete and Portugal is a tough team to beat.

We’re looking forward to having a great World Cup. Of course if we win, it’ll be amazing but we have to be focused on that and we have to be focused on the group phase first. Let’s see what’s gonna happen after that.

Q: The group is tough as well. The opening match for Portugal in World Cup would be against Spain, a country that you probably know the most. Some of their players actually win trophies with you and some of them are your rivals... Would it be a bit special or a bit strange to play against all your friends?

A: It’d be strange, it’d be special, it’d be different. Everything will be different because I’m gonna play against teammates (at Real Madrid), I’m gonna play against rivals, as you say in a good way. But I’m gonna defend my colours, I’m gonna defend Portugal national team. It’s only one game and it’s not a battle so it’s only a game so let’s see what’s gonna happen.

We know Spain is the favourite to win the World Cup so it would be very, very difficult for us to beat them but, as I said before, in football everything is possible. Portugal is an unbelievable national team and we’re gonna compete with anyone.

Future

Q: Last year you said that you wanted to retire at 41 years old, but now you have four children rather than one last year, would the new babies have changed your mind on when to retire?

A: Well it’s an unbelievable feeling. You know it’s great to have a big family and I have always dreamed of having that so it’s good.

Probably, it’s gonna be tougher to finish (my career) at 41 when you have more babies in my opinion. But let’s see and let’s enjoy it once. I have four already and I’m very happy and I’m a blessed guy. 

But let me be quiet a little bit - not quiet still because this family gives me a lot of work. So it’s good and let’s see what’s gonna happen in the next years.

Q: After retirement, it would be the movie business that you’re interested in. Have you ever thought of being a football coach or engaging into football-related business because your son Ronaldo Jr., he said that he wanted to be a five-time Ballon d’Or winners himself and all the kids in the world are looking for inspiration from you.

A: To be a coach is not in my horizon right now but as you know our mind changes all the time. At this moment, I don’t expect myself to be a coach (in the future). And when I say to be a movie actor, I mean to try. Why not? I had invitations to do with movies but as you know, I would like to be focused on my job in football.

But in the future you never know, I want to do a dozen of things, not to do it just with football but also other areas. I hope that I have that possibility and that chance. It’s good and I will open doors on many areas but right now I wanna focus on football because you know I’m so good, I’m so fresh and I still want to enjoy the people and myself of course.

Q: Thank you very much for your time today, Mr. Ronaldo. And for all the Dongqiudi and All Football fans, we thank you very much for joining us today, goodbye.

A: Thank you!