Brazilian football star Ronaldo left Real Madrid after four and a half season, swamped in sadness and rancour against coach Fabio Capello.
MADRID: Brazilian football star Ronaldo left Real Madrid after four and a half season, swamped in sadness and rancour against coach Fabio Capello.
"My heart is breaking," the Brazilian striker told journalists before taking a private airplane for Milan, his new destination.
Real Madrid agreed on Tuesday to sell the Brazilian striker Ronaldo to AC Milan for around 7.5 million euros ($9.7 million).
"I thank the fans for the way they treated me over my four-and-a-half years at Real Madrid. Also my colleagues. And all coaches but one," the Brazilian said, in a clear reference Capello.
Ronaldo's comments in October that "Capello is a great man and an amazing coach" are also a thing of the past.
Capello never showed much appreciation for the striker, and the club did not take long to start leaking details of the Brazilian's nocturnal habits, anything to provoke an exit that was finally sealed on Tuesday.
Real Madrid sold the Brazilian superstar, three times FIFA World Player of the Year, twice European Footballer of the Year and all-time World Cup goalscorer, for a price that was less then what the club paid three weeks ago for a young talent like Gonzalo Higuain, considered an alternative for the Brazilian.
Immediately after terminating his contract with the Spanish club, Ronaldo stopped to say goodbye on his way out of the Santiago Bernabeu stadium.
"It is sad to leave here. I am sorry because I felt at home. But life goes on and I now face a new challenge," he told a cluster of microphones.
Ronaldo did not hide his displeasure at leaving the Spanish giant, where there was no room for the striker given his bad relationship with Capello.
However, the Brazilian made it clear that he never gave the coach reason to keep him off the team.
"I never had problems with the coach, but he did not want me. Over the past three months I did not talk to journalists and they took advantage of my silence. I never said Capello was a devil and that Real Madrid was hell."
Ronaldo's exit seals the end of the era of the so-called Galacticos at Real Madrid, following the transfer of Luis Figo two years ago, the retirement of Zinedine Zidane in July and the departure of David Beckham, set to join Los Angeles Galaxy in July.
Ronaldo leaves behind four-and-a-half season where he experienced almost everything.
Florentino Perez, the 'galactico' president, paid Inter Milan 35 million euros ($ 45.2 million) for the striker, and started cashing in on the signing in the first season, Real Madrid won the Liga and Ronaldo scored 23 goals.
The following year he scored 24 goals, but the club won nothing. And the last two years were pitiful, amid injuries, accusations of lack of commitment and a divorce from the fans.
Ronaldo left through the back door, in a similar way to his exit from earlier clubs. He left Barcelona in 1997 due to his bad relationship with president Josep Lluis Nunez.
He left Inter Milan in 2002 due to his bad relationship with Argentine coach Hector Cuper. And it is a similar story with Capello, not unlike Cuper in his characteristics as coach.
Ronaldo starred in a known script in Madrid, with few heroes and many villains.
He joins AC Milan in search for something he only scraped at the beginning of his stays at Barcelona, Real Madrid and Inter Milan.
"I now face a new challenge," Ronaldo said, immediately before leaving Madrid.
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