Under-pressure Brazil striker Ronaldo on Friday called on the media to stop harping on about his weight and called on reporters to show him more respect.
”The issue of my weight does not interest anyone; it’s just ridiculous,” the 2002 World Cup winner snapped.
”What difference does it make if you come to the World Cup weighing one kilo more? They’ve been harping on about this for three years,” the Real Madrid forward bristled.
”I think I deserve a little more respect than I get,” he added.
The issue came to light once again at the highest level when President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva spoke to the squad by video link late on Thursday and asked about Ronaldo’s weight.
”I am very disappointed — but not with the president,” said Ronaldo, who did not take part in the link-up and who insisted that Lula was ”influenced by news in the papers”.
In recent days the forward has been troubled by blisters as he breaks in new boots and a fever, but he dismissed any talk of being below par.
”They insist in the media the blisters are a problem, that my weight is a problem, that the fever I had on Thursday is a problem.
Maybe the president fell for this vision,” Ronaldo suggested.
”I just want respect — I don’t want to open the papers and read all about how the players went to a disco on a day off. This is not newsworthy,” insisted the man whose goals won the 2002 final against Germany. — Sapa-AFP