Ronaldo Nazario, Brazilian football legend, has constantly called for psychological support for footballers like Neymar and co. He also had his say on Kaka’s statement describing how Brazilians view him: “Ronaldo is just another fat guy walking down the street!”
But first, let’s hear what Ronaldo had to say about Neymar and the current Brazilian team.
That’s what Ronaldo says when he read Neymar’s social media post about how he was “psychologically destroyed” after the quarter-final loss to Croatia.
“That broke my heart in a way that I was also psychologically destroyed and I wanted to find a way to help him,” Ronaldo told Folha De S.Paulo. “I understand the moment everyone is going through, especially Neymar. The burden is much bigger for him. It’s normal to be depressed, sad, maybe even unwilling to play and not plan anything for the future. But this will pass. This disappointment will be temporary, he will come back with the same lust and will as ever,” he said.
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PremiumRonaldo also stressed the need for psychological support for the players and not just during a tournament. Coach Tite has been criticized in the Brazilian media for not including psychologists in his delegation to Qatar.
“I don’t think this treatment is short, especially for tournaments. What I would recommend to athletes is to have this monitoring in their lives,” said Ronaldo.
Ronaldo says he has been undergoing psychotherapy for almost three years. ”So I would suggest that you have a psychologist in your life with whom you can discuss things, your needs, doubts, who can clarify a lot, help you a lot. Not a football psychologist who is there for a month. I don’t know if that will help much.”
Now to Kaka’s statement. “It’s strange to say this, but many Brazilians don’t support Brazil,” Kaka said on BeIn Sports. “It happens sometimes. When you see Ronaldo walking around here you think: ‘Wow’, he has something different here. In Brazil he’s just a fat man walking down the street.” The statement was met with laughter from the panelists, including Gary Neville and John Terry.
Ronaldo has now responded to it.
His English isn’t great. Perhaps he meant to refer to a treatment we all receive as successful Brazilians abroad. Perhaps culturally we get more special treatment outside Brazil than in Brazil itself,” he said. “There, I thought he was a bit confused when it came to conveying this idea of what he was trying to say…” Ronaldo said.