Rio de Janeiro, Dec 30 (IANS) Brazil great Ronaldo has responded to criticism by Fabio Capello, declaring that the Italian was “over the hill” during his second spell as coach of Real Madrid.
Capello earlier this week claimed Ronaldo was 6-8kg overweight when he turned up to pre-season training in July 2006 and was “a negative influence for the group”, Xinhua reported.
In an interview with the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper on Tuesday, Ronaldo said Capello was unable to get through to Real Madrid’s players, despite guiding the team to the 2006-07 La Liga title before being sacked.
“Capello was a great coach in his time, in the 90s,” Ronaldo said.
“At Real Madrid he was already over the hill and had lost his ability to motivate. So much so that after that season he did not have success anywhere.”
Following his departure from the Bernabeu, Capello had spells in charge of England and Russia, guiding them to the 2010 and 2014 World Cups respectively.
Ronaldo scored 83 goals in 127 appearances for Real Madrid from 2002 to 2007.
