Begged Ronaldo to stay back in 2002, reveals Marco Materazzi

Materazzi played over a decade at Inter Milan during which he won several trophies with the club including five Serie A titles, one FIFA Club World Cup and a Champions League. In an interesting revelation, which he made this week, the midfielder stated that Ronaldo Nazario didn’t want to leave the club in 2002 and that he even begged the Brazilain to stay back but the striker's differences with the then-coach Hector Cuper made him part ways. 

“I’ll tell you something I know for certain: Ronaldo would have wanted to come back to us. He didn’t even want to leave in 2002. I got on my knees in the dressing room, begging him to stay, but he said: ‘No, it’s me or him.’ And there I realised he was going,” said Marco Materazzi, as reported by Football Italia.

After shifting his base for five years, Ronaldo was back in Milan once again in 2007, but donned their arch-rivals’ shirt instead. It was short-lived, as the Brazilian went back to his native league and plied his trade for Corinthians until he hung up his boots in 2011. Ronaldo is one of the few players to have won the FIFA World Cup twice, once in 1994 and the other in 2002, during which he was the top scorer in the tournament.