Fabio Paratici, sporting director for Juventus FC, has revealed that the "insane idea" to try and recruit Portuguese football ace Cristiano Ronaldo was made by the club after a single backward goal scored by the footballer during a UEFA Champions League quarterfinal match between Juventus and Real Madrid in April.
"During that week we met with his agent and he said, 'Cristiano was impressed by all the attention he received: he would like to come and play [with] Juventus one day.' I replied, 'Okay, I understand,'" Paratici said.
"This is one of the best teams in the world and I’ve had my mind set on coming here for a little while. They have a great president, a great manager," Ronaldo said, according to The Guardian.
He also added that he never had any sort of rivalry going on with Lionel Messi, O Jogo newspaper noted.
"I have no rivalries with other players, I never had, that's not part of my ethics. … It was a pleasure to play against Messi. You all liked it and it was interesting. But I never considered it a rivalry," Ronaldo explained.
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Earlier in July, Spanish football club Real Madrid had announced that its star player, Cristiano Ronaldo, was officially leaving the team’s ranks to join Juventus, with the transfer cost estimated at about $123.24 million.
During his 10-year career with Real Madrid, Ronaldo became the club's all-time top scorer with 451 goals and won two La Liga titles and four Champions League trophies.
