𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐌𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲.

In my mind, I'm always the best. I don't care what people think, what they say. In my mind, not just this year, but always. I'm always the best. I'm always going to say that. Because I think we have two things. We are the best in our area. So, in my area, I think I'm the best. Do you think what makes you different to the others? To the next rung on the ladder, if you like. The very good players. Is the dedication level that you put in? I think I'm good. But I think my main strength, it's my mind. I think it's my strongest point, it's my mind. It's the numbers they don't like. If you see during the last 15 years, my level is always kind of the same. So, effort, dedication, work hard. Because the talent is not enough anymore. And if you don't dedicate it 100%, you're not going to reach the level that you want. For example, you arrive home, you had a lunch, you do a quick nap, and you wake up, you play with your kids. It's part of my sacrifice, my obsession to win, to have success. When I say success, I work for that. Talent is not enough. I dedicate myself so much that this is part of me. Records is part of me. I don't follow the records. The records follow me, which is different. Are you addicted to winning? Yes, I am. I'm addicted to success. That's the thing that really drives you? Yes, I think so. And I think it's not something bad. I think it's good. It motivates me. I have to go to the gym at least 30-40 minutes, but this will make the difference in the end of the day. If you don't do that work, you miss one. The next day, it's two sessions that you lost. And I know in the end of the day, in the end, they're going to make a huge difference. This is why I'm 34 and I look 28. I remember when I was 18, 19, 20, I always looked to see the best players, like Mr. Roy, Ferdinand, Roy Keane, and the geeks. This is why I have the success that I have and longevity, because I take care of my body, my mentality, my head, because I see these guys and I learn from them. When you try and give advice to these younger players, what do you say to them? What do you try and guide them to be like? I think the best advice... I'm not the kind of guy to like to give advice. I prefer to be an example. Because I'm an example. I'm there every morning. I do the same stuff. I'm probably the first one to arrive and the last one to go out. I think the details speak for themselves. You mentioned a few interesting words there. You also said mentality. How crucial is that? Can you be successful if the mentality isn't there? Impossible. I think it's the main point. I always speak with my friends, and we have a chat about football, the games, and they all speak about the system, but the system is useful if the mentality is not there on the pitch. This is why I say we have a long way to improve. For me, the most important thing is for you to look at yourself and say, I can do it better. I can help the team much more. The system is important. Yes, it's important. Everything is important. The small details make a huge difference at the end of the day. For me, the most important thing is the mentality. For you to help the team, the right mentality, self-talk positive, I think all the details depend on you. Not the coaches, the fans, the press. It depends on you. If you are proud of yourself, and you have some dignity, I think you have to do it much more. This is why, as people know, I'm a challenged person. I like to challenge, first of all, myself. I think it's the most important. It's great. This gives me motivation to still work hard and better in my job. But I have to say, to be in my shoes is not easy. But I'm not complaining. I just want to say that I feel happy. All this happened because of a reason. The reason is, I'm unbelievable inside the pitch. This is why the people are so much interested in me. The league, to win the league, it's a marathon. It's not a sprint, a hundred-meter sprint. You have to be consistent. The best players always follow the best players. They want to be at the top of the game because they are the ones that are there. You cannot rest or sleep because the other one can pass you. Of course we fight with everyone. With Neymar, with Messi, with Lewandowski, with Higuain. We're at the top of the best players in the world. So operations are healthy and we fight to be the best. This is my main point, it's my motivation. It's to be better than them, year after year. In my opinion, the main point should come from inside you. You should be... Is there anything that Lionel Messi is better than you at? It's opinions. I respect the opinions. Maybe in your opinion Messi is better than me, but in my mind I'm better than him. It's very simple. Is that rivalry a good thing? For me, rivalry doesn't exist. The meaning of this word doesn't exist. Rivals is in a war. This is it. We have rivals. Even in football, no. It's just a game. It's not just a game. I'm in the training, I'm like that. At home, with my sisters, with my mom, with my nephews. I always try to be competitive and try to win. I'm like that. I never change. Because I like this. I like what I do. I like my life. I'm a happy person. When I was 12 years old, most of the people told me, Cristiano, you are a very good talent player, but you are very skinny, very slim. And I put it in my mind, with the body we can improve. We can improve. If you go to the gym, dedication and hard work, you can improve. So I improve myself. You have to work. I try to do it almost every day. This is why I'm in the top level many, many years. Because I do it extra, outside the pitch. Because I really like to put myself under pressure to see what I can do. Maybe sometimes, I agree. Maybe I have a bad image on the pitch because I'm too serious. I take it seriously. But if you really know me, if you are my friend, if you live inside my house, if you share the day with me, you will know that I hate to lose. The people who call me arrogant, most of them, I like one day to sit with them and to have a chat with them, to see which way they see that I am arrogant. Because I think they have to sit with me, to speak with me, to know who is a real Cristiano. What's your secret? Because you're showing no signs of slowing down, Cristiano. No secrets. There don't exist secrets. The secret is dedication and hard work. To be able to work 100% all the time. If there are words, this is my secret. With the last years as a business, I saw many, many things that I'm disappointed. The passion for the game is still intact. But in the same way, I saw other things as well, which surprised me. But in the same way, it's part of the business because if you see the world, how it is in the moment, it's all business. Everyone takes on itself. They are more individual. You have one game. After three, four days, you have to be in the national team in preparation for the World Cup. It's hard. Sometimes you have to settle everything and be with your family, take the best decisions. And in this summer, I didn't feel comfortable. I feel uncomfortable the way they treat me. Especially the press, they doubt about me, the professional that I am. It's impossible to be 21 in the top of the game if you're not professional. They doubt about me, which makes me feel very, very, very sad because in my life, I'm always one of the best professionals. This is why I'm still playing at a high level. I always say it's all packaged. First of all, the talent helps a lot, of course. But of course, the ethic of work. You have to put in your mind the ethic of work when you are a professional. Of course, my dream is coming true. I was professional. I played in the best clubs in the world. I won the most important trophies. So I'm glad to be in this position. But of course, this is not coming from the sky. I did dedicate myself. And I'm working hard. And this is why the goals and all the achievements that I get come from dedication and hard work. In the beginning, when I was young, very young, I did a lot. I did extra training to improve my skills, the dribbling and everything. But, you know, I think you're working well because what I am today started from that moment that I did weights on my feet and jumped and did dribbling and I took it off and I felt faster. So it was funny and I remember it so well. And I'm happy to have this memory what I did the last, let's say, 15 years. So it's good. It's good improvement. So this is what I'm trying to do. To be good, to be in a good shape and try to enjoy the people. This is what I love to do. I have to improve. And I want to improve. And I see myself to do it when I'm retired to speak from millions of people how to be a professional player, how to maintain your longevity, how... I'm not a psychologist, but I passed through many, many things and I can pass a bubble. How to win. How to win, which is the most important. I think I have experience to... I can help many, many people in that way if they want my help. You want to listen to it, right? For sure. Especially the young people. I want to be with the young people to speak with them. Not only for them, but for the fathers as well to put them in the right spot. I see football now as a business, to be honest. I don't understand they treat you, they treat your players like a piece of meat. And I say, yes, you say everything. It's true. When they want you, when they count with you, they give you everything. When they don't, they try to make a hard life to you. I see football. I always say it was the toughest time in my life. It was when I left my family at 11 years old to live in a different world, which is Lisbon. In the same country, but it looked like it's a different part of the world. I was crying almost every day to miss my family, but I don't regret it because it was probably the most intense moments in my life that I lived through. So without sacrifice, you cannot win nothing. So I did an unbelievable sacrifice. My family too. And I think I did a good option. It's a stupid question when people say, they are not the same. Nobody is the same. Day by day, we're getting old. Every one of us. You understand? It's normal. You have to adapt. And I think nobody in this game have this brain that adapts with this age. I'm not want to be cocky to say that I'm the same as when I was 20. Of course not. But I adapt and I be smart to know my strength, what I'm good to do. And I'm still playing the high level and I score goals and I will continue to score goals if my mind is clear and happy. And if the people surround me there help me to be successful player, especially the coach, president, directives. But when you feel that the energy don't go surround you, it's difficult for you to be yourself, which has happened. This is what's happened with me. When I arrived in Manchester United, I always be available to help the team to do the good things, to put in the right spots, to compete with the best teams. But it's a word to advise to the club because the trophies that I won individual and collective, I think I can help a lot. But when the infrastructure is not good, they criticize me when I don't speak. Of course, when I'm going to speak, they're going to criticize me even more. But it's something that I can deal with that. I know I'm going to disappoint a few people. Maybe I'm going to make happy a few people, but it is what it is. The life is completely difficult. We have obstacles in our lives. And I will keep running to fight against the people who don't believe me. And the life is a challenge. And I want to tell the people that they are wrong. Nobody is perfect. Episodes in the life we all have is part of the human beings. It's part of me to be a human being and father as well. I will always make mistakes. But I don't know. It's hard to tell right now what's going to happen in the World Cup because my focus is always for the World Cup, for the Portugal National Cup. Be proud of yourself and look in the mirror and say, listen, I gave everything. And I think we have to believe in that. If not, it will be a nightmare. I'm sure I made history in football. What I did and what I'm continuing to do. But one of the best players in history. For me, the number one in history. But for some fans, the number one. For other ones, the second. It doesn't matter. I know I'm in the history of football one of the greatest ever. When you have a tombstone, when you die and you have your own tombstone, and it says, here lies Cristiano Ronaldo, how would you like to be remembered as a man? Write your own tombstone. Number one. Not number seven. Number one. You see, in the end, for you it's all about being number one, isn't it? That's really what drives you. You don't want to be second. No. You don't want to be third. I don't know this number. I don't know that number.