Atletico Madrid coach and former Inter, Lazio, and Sevilla midfielder Diego Simeone has revealed that legendary former Nerazzurri striker Ronaldo sometimes frustrated him with his attitude.
Speaking in a documentary film about the Brazilian, as reported by FCInterNews, Simeone looked back on what it was like to have the legendary former striker as a teammate, and also recalled the goal he scored for Lazio to kill off Inter’s title hopes in 2002.
Ronaldo joined Inter as a player who was at the time considered to be the very best in the world.
The Brazilian had established a reputation for being virtually unplayable with his performances for PSV, Barcelona, and the Brazilian national team.
During his time at Inter, Ronaldo continued to demonstrate why he was so highly-thought-of with his performances, although a very unfortunate time with injuries curtailed this.
However, as Simeone has revealed, sometimes the Brazilian’s attitude could be a source of frustration.
“Ronaldo could do absolutely everything,” he said of his former teammate.
“When someone is as good as him and can win games on his own, you want the best from him,” he continued.
“Instead it was like he was just messing around, I often couldn’t stand him because even during the biggest matches he would joke around.”
“When he was in the mood, however, we always had a chance of winning,” he added.
Simeone was also on the pitch when Ronaldo suffered an infamous knee injury in a match against Lazio which ruled him out for more than a season as he recovered.
“We all heard a very loud noise, as though something had clicked,” the former midfielder and current coach recalled. “We all feared the worst.”
Simeone also looked back on a famous goal that he had scored against the Nerazzurri for Lazio, having joined the Biancocelesti from Inter.
The goal came during the infamous 4-2 Biancocelesti win that saw the Nerazzurri lose out on the Scudetto to Juventus on the final day of the 2001-02 season.
“When I headed the ball, it was as though time stood still,” the Argentine said.
“It was a goal that caused a lot of people who I still cared out to be very angry, they looked at me like ‘what have you done?'”
