Ronaldo still needs to lose weight: Capello
Yahoo Sports
MADRID (AFP) - Real Madrid coach Fabio Capello has blasted Brazil superstar Ronaldo for being overweight but offered an olive branch by saying Ronaldo's waistline is heading in the right direction.
"He is getting better every day in training and is starting to rediscover an acceptable physical condition," said Capello on Saturday.
"He's not yet at his best, he still needs to lose a few more pounds but he doesn't seem too bad to me.
"He's lost a lot of weight but he still needs to lose more to become the player that everyone knows. For him, losing weight is important."
Ronaldo is known as "el Gordo' - 'Fatty' - on the terraces at the Bernabeu and his waistline has been steadily expanding ever since his first stint in Spain as a fleet-footed and blistering young forward at Barcelona in the mid 1990s.
He has been far from happy with his limited role at Real this season where Ruud van Nistelrooy and Raul have been the first choice attacking pairing.
On Friday he admitted in a long interview with daily newspaper ABC: "I can't be happy because what makes me happy - playing football - is missing from my life."
But he vowed defiantly: "The worst thing is not to have the trust of the coach, and to not know how to regain it.
"But I'm a fighter, and I'm going to fight my way back into the starting line-up." added Ronaldo, who in the summer became the all-time leading scorer in the World Cup finals.
He may well not have to wait too long for that as he is rumoured to be going to start Sunday's clash with Celta Vigo.
He missed the start of the season after a shin operation at the end of July and was hoping to make his first start this season last Wednesday in the Champions League against Steaua Bucharest.
Instead he played only 15 minutes in Real's 1-0 victory.
Capello explained afterwards that Ronaldo had a stiff neck and that was why he left him out.
But rumours are circulating in the Spanish press that Ronaldo could be heading out the exit door in the January transfer window.
It would not be the first time such rumours have abounded in Madrid as last season Ronaldo alluded he would leave in the close season after facing constant barracking from Real's notoriously hard to please fans.
AC and Inter Milan competed for the Brazil hero's signature in the summer but with the arrival of Capello, Ronaldo opted to stay.
