{"id":298360,"date":"2023-11-21T16:25:36","date_gmt":"2023-11-21T16:25:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/?p=298360"},"modified":"2023-11-21T16:25:36","modified_gmt":"2023-11-21T16:25:36","slug":"cristiano-ronaldo-fires-back-at-former-sporting-academy-prospect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/soccer\/cristiano-ronaldo-fires-back-at-former-sporting-academy-prospect\/","title":{"rendered":"Cristiano Ronaldo fires back at former Sporting academy prospect"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Cristiano Ronaldo fires back at former Sporting academy starlet and Chelsea loanee who claimed he DESERVES one of the Portuguese icon&#8217;s five Ballon d&#8217;Or awards<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Fabio Paim, now 35, was a highly rated youth prospect at Sporting Lisbon<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Cristiano Ronaldo has savagely responded to claims by the former winger\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Trent and Bellingham can play together but can&#8217;t get in each other&#8217;s way &#8211; IAKO<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Cristiano Ronaldo has savagely responded to claims made by former Sporting Lisbon academy starlet Fabio Paim.<\/p>\n<p>Paim was seen as one of Portugal&#8217;s biggest prospects during the 2000s, with reports that even Ronaldo himself regarded Paim as the most promising young player of his generation.<\/p>\n<p>However, Paim failed to live up to his potential, never making a senior appearance for Sporting, and having six loan stints away from the club &#8211; including at Chelsea where he also never made a competitive appearance.<\/p>\n<p>In an interview on a podcast hosted by PT Clipes, Paim said he deserved at least one of Ronaldo&#8217;s five Ballon d&#8217;Or trophies, and that he could have been on par with the Portuguese icon and Lionel Messi &#8216;if he had half of Cristiano&#8217;s brain&#8217;.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Ronaldo in response to the video gave a savage response, as he wrote on Instagram: &#8216;Wtf??? Who is this guy.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/21\/14\/78063787-12775379-image-a-97_1700578326313.jpg\" height=\"392\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Cristiano Ronaldo has hit back at a former Sporting Lisbon academy starlet who claimed that he deserved one of the Portuguese icon&#8217;s five Ballon d&#8217;Or awards<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/21\/14\/78063785-12775379-image-m-99_1700578355519.jpg\" height=\"764\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Fabio Paim insisted his career could have matched Ronaldo or Messi if he had &#8216;half of Cristiano&#8217;s brain&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/21\/14\/78063781-12775379-image-a-100_1700578391375.jpg\" height=\"138\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Ronaldo in turn brutally responded to the clip writing: &#8216;Wtf. Who is this guy?&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>His response comes despite a number of reports claiming that Ronaldo said after his move to Man United\u00a0in 2003: &#8216;If you think I&#8217;m good, wait until you see Fabio Paim.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Speaking on the podcast, Paim said: &#8216;Cristiano Ronaldo should offer me one of his Ballon d&#8217;Ors. I went to Sporting when I was seven years old, I grew up there.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;They were years of glory in which I won everything I could. I didn&#8217;t reach where I could have reached, but I marked a generation. If people don&#8217;t forget it&#8217;s because I marked them.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I said when I was happy that I thought Cristiano Ronaldo could offer me a Ballon d&#8217;Or. But it was with humility. If I had half of Cristiano&#8217;s head, it wouldn&#8217;t be him and Messi.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;It would be me, him and Messi and maybe he wouldn&#8217;t have won the Ballon d&#8217;Or that he has. Maybe one of them was mine.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>After leaving Sporting in 2010, he went on to play across the world in countries including Angola, Qatar, Malta, Lithuania and Luxembourg.<\/p>\n<p>The 35-year-old also represented Portugal at youth level and retired from football n 2018.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Paim claimed to\u00a0the Sun that he and Ronaldo had been friends and that they would make trips to McDonalds &#8211; a far cry from the healthy diet Ronaldo has been known to have which has helped him build his iconic career where he is still playing for his country at the age of 38.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/21\/14\/78063947-12775379-image-a-101_1700578454327.jpg\" height=\"421\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Paim was one of Portugal&#8217;s most highly rated young prospects but failed to live up to his potential<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/21\/14\/78063941-12775379-image-m-103_1700578475560.jpg\" height=\"521\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>He had a brief loan stint at Chelsea in 2008 but never made a senior appearance for them<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/21\/14\/78064217-12775379-image-m-108_1700578611279.jpg\" height=\"593\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Ronaldo&#8217;s comments come despite Paim telling the Sun that he and the Portuguese star (right) had been friends during their time at Sporting<\/p>\n<p>Paim told the Sun: &#8216;<span>When we used to play in Sporting and lived in the academy, we lived in the stadium.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8216;At night we used to go McDonald&#8217;s to pick up the burgers that no one wanted anymore so they weren&#8217;t good to sell.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;We were there every night for the burgers. Yes, Sporting knew. It&#8217;s not like nowadays. We were allowed to go out.&#8217;<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off\u00a0is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football, launching with a preview show today and every week this season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube , Apple Music and Spotify<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2017\/08\/02\/636x90_facebook_ad_sport.png\" width=\"636\" height=\"90\"><br \/>\nSource: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12775379\/Cristiano-Ronaldo-former-Sporting-academy-Chelsea-loanee-DESERVES-Ballon-dOr-awards.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cristiano Ronaldo fires back at former Sporting academy starlet and Chelsea loanee who claimed he DESERVES one of the Portuguese [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298359,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - 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