Who dares will win the Champions League - Brazil's Ronaldo
VIDEO SHOWS: FORMER BRAZIL AND REAL MADRID STRIKER, RONALDO COMMENTING ON THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL, BRAZILIAN SOCCER RESUMING AND BEST PLAYERS IN HISTORY
RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT
SHOWS: MADRID, SPAIN (JUNE 18, 2020) (REUTERS-ACCESS ALL)
1. FORMER BRAZIL INTERNATIONAL, RONALDO ARRIVING AT NEWS CONFERENCE WEARING FACE MASK
2. RONALDO AT NEWS CONFERENCE
3. UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE BANNER / RONALDO AT NEWS CONFERENCE
4. NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS
5. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FORMER BRAZIL INTERNATIONAL, RONALDO, SAYING:
"People are craving to watch the Champions (League). We faced the threat of not seeing this season's Champions League come to an end. Just imagine a season without a champion. Eventually we got this format, in my opinion it is going to bring a lot of excitement, teams are not going to have a second chance. Those who dare will win the matches and eventually the competition is going to be fair."
6. VARIOUS OF RONALDO WITH HIS FEET ON TOP OF A SOCCER BALL WITH THE ISTANBUL CHAMPIONS LEAGUE LOGO
7. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FORMER BRAZIL INTERNATIONAL, RONALDO, SAYING:
"To me the selection of Portugal as the Champions League venue was excellent. Portugal has shown how they came out of the COVID-19 crisis in a spectacular way. Everybody will have the tranquility and security to go there and work and, once again, visit Portugal which is a spectacular country."
8. RONALDO AT NEWS CONFERENCE
9. RONALDO HANDLING FACE MASK
10. (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) FORMER BRAZIL INTERNATIONAL, RONALDO, SAYING:
"I'm against Carioca and Brazilian soccer restarting due to the situation the country is going through at the time. In my opinion Brazil is not considering the examples from other European countries and not taking into consideration the pandemic. The league only kicked off again when people, cities and autonomous regions had all the safety measures and the numbers of those infected dropped a lot. I think that Brazil is at the peak and it's already thinking about kicking-off the competition again. In my opinion it is a mistake."
11. CLOSE OF RONALDO IN FRONT OF UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE BANNER
12. NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS
13. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FORMER BRAZIL INTERNATIONAL, RONALDO, SAYING:
"I don't like to put myself on the list, so I'm going to do it without my name. Pele, Maradona, Messi and Cristiano (Ronaldo)."
14. NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS
15. RONALDO HANDLING FACE MASK
16. RONALDO WITH BLACK FACE MASK ON
STORY: Former Brazil and Real Madrid great Ronaldo said on Thursday (June 18) the eight-team tournament style to decide this season's Champions League winner will reward teams that dare to take risks.
The quarter-finals and semi-finals will be staged over one leg, instead of the usual two, with the final to be held on Aug. 23, UEFA deputy general secretary Giorgio Marchetti said after an executive committee meeting held by video conference.
The four last-16, second leg matches which still have to be played -- Manchester City v Real Madrid, Bayern Munich v Chelsea, Juventus v Olympique Lyonnais and Barcelona v Napoli -- will take place on Aug. 7/8, either at the originally scheduled venues or in Portugal.
Paris St Germain, Atletico Madrid, Atalanta and RB Leipzig have already qualified for the quarter-finals.
The final will be played in Lisbon, a city Ronaldo praised and pointed at Portugal as an example of how to deal with the COVID-19 crisis.
Brazilian football will kick-off again in Rio de Janeiro this week after the city's mayor gave the go ahead for the local league to start following a three-month hiatus caused by the new coronavirus, but Ronaldo thinks it's a mistake.
He prompted Brazilian authorities to follow the example of European countries and postpone the return to the pitches until the coronavirus is under control.
Asked how he would rank Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Pele and Maradona, Ronaldo said he would place Pele and Maradona at the top of the list followed by Messi in third place and Cristiano Ronaldo last.
Ronaldo won two La Liga titles with Real, the UEFA Cup with Inter and lifted the World Cup in 1994 and 2002 with Brazil, also reaching the tournament's final in 1998. He also picked up the Ballon d'Or award for the best player in the world twice: in 1997 and 2002.
(Production: Silvio Castellanos)
