He’s Cristiano Ronaldo: the “world’s best soccer player” that almost wasn’t.
An upcoming documentary, Ronaldo, follows the 30-year-old Madrid soccer star, Cristiano Ronaldo. While Ronaldo is well-known around the world, the story of his beginning isn’t. In the film, Ronaldo’s mother confessed that Ronaldo was “a child I wanted to abort.” Her efforts failed, and, today, she credits God for saving Ronaldo’s life.
And what an extraordinary life that has been.
Ronaldo was voted “best player in the world” by The Guardian after winning the FIFA Ballon d’Or for the last two years (three times total). BBC Sports deemed him an “all-time leading goalscorer” with 326 goals in 314 matches after leaving Manchester United in 2009 to play for Real Madrid.
But back to the documentary’s revelations.
In his review of the film, Daniel Taylor, sports writer for the Guardian, wrote the movie revealed that “there was very nearly no Cristiano Ronaldo.” Taylor cited Ronaldo’s mother, Maria Dolores dos Santos Aveiro, admitting, “He was an unwanted child.”
He continued:
“She considered an abortion and, on a neighbour’s advice, drank boiled black beer before running until she was on the verge of fainting, hoping to force a miscarriage. It didn’t work – and she seems pretty happy about that.”
The Daily Mail added that, “According to the Daily Star, Ronaldo’s mum wrote: ‘I wanted to abort but the doctor didn’t support my decision.’”
The Mirror provided a lengthier quote from Ronaldo’s mother in the film:
"He is a child that I wanted to abort. God didn’t want that to happen and I was blessed because of that and God didn’t punish me. Sometimes Ronaldo makes fun of me and says 'You didn’t want me to be born. But now you see that I’m here helping all of you.' And, well, sometimes we have a laugh about that."
The film, directed by Anthony Wonke, hits theaters November 9.
