Ronaldo names ex-teammate who ‘drank his whole wine cellar in two weeks’ | Football

Legendary striker Ronaldo was no stranger to partying but even he was surprised to see a former teammate get through 100 bottles of his wine in two weeks!

The Brazilian icon remembers his time at Inter Milan, where he scored 59 goals in 99 games from 1997-2002, badly hampered by a nightmare knee injury.

During his spell with Inter he was joined by fellow Brazil international Vampeta, a midfielder who he had also played with at PSV.

Vampeta did not make a huge impact at Inter, moving to PSG just months later, but he made a serious impact on Ronaldo’s wine cellar.

Speaking on the Charla Podcast, via CadenaSer, Ronaldo said of his former teammate: ‘He stayed at my house, and I went to Brazil. He had a wine cellar with 100 bottles, and he drank them all in two weeks.

‘He finished all the bottles and opened more boxes he had in the apartment until he found one that was special. It was a 1976 bottle that I bought at a restaurant in Paris for 10,000 euros.

‘He and his friends opened this bottle and gave us each a plastic cup. He said it was hot and put ice in it! I couldn’t believe it because, as I said, it was just a wine for display.’

Ronaldo was not judging Vampeta for his heavy-drinking antics, as the former striker also got stuck in on the party scene whenever he could.

The two-time Ballon d’Or winner says it was not possible to have a big night out where he played, so when he was at Real Madrid he would fly to Paris after a game and jet straight back into training on a Monday morning.

‘I played on Saturday and then went to Paris. I spent Sunday in Paris and went to the party that night,’ he explained. ‘At seven in the morning, I took the plane to Madrid and arrived at nine in the morning with training at 10. I did this many times.

‘In the city you play in, you either have a party at home or you’re dead. So I branched out and travelled.’

Former Real Madrid manager Fabio Capello said that dealing with Ronaldo was both a privilege and a huge challenge as a result of his socialising.

‘The greatest talent I ever coached was Ronaldo,’ Capello told Sky Sport Italia.

‘But at the same time he was the player who created the most problems for me in the dressing room. He used to throw parties and do everything.’

Former Real Madrid star Ivan Helguera remembered of the Galacticos days: ‘Beckham, Zidane and Figo were great professionals.

‘Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos, on the other hand, liked to go out a little more. But they certainly didn’t do it every night.

‘It happened if we played on a Saturday and, if we won, we all went out to celebrate. But it is absolutely not true that we went out on Friday or Saturday before important games.

‘I remember a birthday party at Ronaldo’s house, which he later sold to Sergio Ramos, where buses full of girls began to arrive. I was with my wife and we decided to leave, as did Figo.’

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