Ronaldo has recalled the end of his time at Inter and why he decided to leave. “I met with Massimo Moratti and told him: ‘either I go, or Hector Cuper goes,’ and in the end I went.”
El Fenomeno, as Ronaldo was known, had been at Inter for five years, but by the summer of 2002 had become disillusioned with life at San Siro under coach Hector Cuper.
They had infamously lost the title on the last day of the 2001-02 season to Juventus, after losing 4-2 to Lazio, whilst the Bianconeri won 2-0 at Udinese.
Ronaldo has recalled the end of his time at Inter and why he decided to leave. “I met with Massimo Moratti and told him: ‘either I go, or Hector Cuper goes,’ and in the end I went.”
El Fenomeno, as Ronaldo was known, had been at Inter for five years, but by the summer of 2002 had become disillusioned with life at San Siro under coach Hector Cuper.
They had infamously lost the title on the last day of the 2001-02 season to Juventus, after losing 4-2 to Lazio, whilst the Bianconeri won 2-0 at Udinese.
Ronaldo then won the World Cup with Brazil, in which he ended the tournament as top scorer with eight goals.
Upon his return, he met with President Moratti in a bid to sort out his future.
“In Milan I was very happy. I felt the unconditional affection of the fans and from all over the world,” Ronaldo told DAZN in an interview.
“We had Cuper as coach, but I couldn’t continue. I spoke to Moratti and I said to him: ‘either he goes away or I go away, we can’t continue'.
“My story with Inter ended badly, he preferred Cuper to me. My story with Real Madrid started there.”
Ronaldo left Inter for Real in a €25m deal towards the end of the 2002 transfer window, with the Nerazzurri signing Hernan Crespo from Lazio as his replacement.
Inter would reach the Champions League semi final in 2002-03, losing to Milan on away goals, whilst Ronaldo would win La Liga.
Cuper would be sacked by Inter in October 2003 after a poor start to the 2003-04 season.