Nani: 'If he doesn't win, Ronaldo will cry'

Nani disclosed that Cristiano Ronaldo’s fixation on victory began during his teenage years at the Sporting academy, to the point of crying when results were unfavorable.

Before becoming a global icon with five Ballon d'Or titles and numerous unprecedented records, Cristiano Ronaldo was once just a boy dreaming of football at the Sporting academy. In an interview with FourFourTwo, Nani recounted the time he and Ronaldo trained and grew up together at Sporting before later becoming teammates at Manchester United.

According to Nani, Ronaldo’s difference showed very early on and the most prominent was his fierce desire to win.“Even as a child, he stood out above everyone else,” he emphasized. “He knew exactly what he wanted. Cristiano lived football with intense passion – if he didn’t win or things didn’t go smoothly, he would cry. That shows the level of dedication and intensity he had for the game.”

Meanwhile, Nani’s path was far from smooth. At 16, he trained simultaneously at both Benfica and Sporting before making his final choice. “Yes, it was quite an unusual situation, training with both Benfica and Sporting at the same time,” he recalled. “Then, both clubs invited me to join their preseason squads, and initially, I agreed to both. It was crazy.”

In the end, Sporting became his destined club. “Ultimately, I chose Sporting because I had a friend there, and honestly, it was also the club I liked more.” That decision gave Nani the chance to play alongside Ronaldo at the academy, where they both honed their skills and nurtured dreams of going professional.

At that time, neither of them dared to dream of becoming major stars. “Back then, we didn’t think that far ahead, we just played and enjoyed the game,” Nani shared. “We had ambitions and dreams of one day becoming professional players, but we also understood that until that actually happened, it was all just an illusion.”

Everything then happened very quickly. “In the end, things moved fast, opportunities came, and we didn’t let them slip away. The spirit of sacrifice from a young age was the key.” For Nani, it was the burning desire and the tears from childhood failures that helped shape a Ronaldo who was always obsessed with winning.

From tears shed at the Sporting academy to the ambition to conquer the world’s top stages, Cristiano Ronaldo displayed the mindset of a champion early on. For Nani, the memory of the boy who “cried if he didn’t win” is not just a childhood story but the clearest proof of the winning obsession that made him one of the greatest footballers in history.