Former Brazil attacking midfielder Kaka made a shocking statement when he slammed Brazilians for not showing enough gratitude towards their ex-footballers. The 2007 Ballon D’or winner also made a stunning revelation, where he mentioned that the 2002 World Cup winner Ronaldo is considered a “fat man” in his country, contrasting to the reputation he holds globally.
Kaka made the statements while speaking on BeIn sports, which saw co-panelists Gary Neville and John Terry break into laughter. “It’s strange to say this, but many Brazilians don’t support Brazil. It happens sometimes. If you see Ronaldo walking around here, you’ll be like: ‘Wow’, he has something different here. In Brazil, he’s just a fat man walking down the street,” noted Kaka.
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Ronaldo on Monday reacted to Kaka’s bombshell statement, where he claimed the latter is not eloquent in English and his statement has been misinterpreted.
“His English is not great. Perhaps he wanted to refer to a treatment that we all receive as successful Brazilians abroad. Perhaps culturally we receive a more special treatment outside Brazil than in Brazil itself,” Ronaldo was quoted by Indian Express as saying. “There, I thought he was kind of confused when it came to conveying this idea of what he was trying to say …” he added.
Meanwhile, Brazil, who had a phenomenal run in the ongoing edition of the FIFA World Cup, were ousted by Luka Modric’s Croatia in the quarterfinal tie last week.
The match, which finished 0-0 after the regular 90 minutes, saw Neymar break the deadlock in the first half of extra time. Just when fans believed Brazil were marching into the final four, Croatia equalised after Bruno Petkovic’s deflected shot blasted past Alisson Becker.
Croatia then wrapped up the proceedings in the tiebreakers, winning the penalty shootout 4-2.