The truth about Dani Alves's 'fight' with Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo
The Juve right-back says he respects the Portuguese and wasn't trying to criticise him
Dani Alves has spoken about his fights with Cristiano Ronaldo during his past life as a Barcelona player.
The Juventus right-back insists he respects the Real Madrid forward and says everything was blown up by the press.
“All my fights with Cristiano were because of the press,” he said in a wide ranging interview with ABC.
“If people only knew how much I respect Cristiano Ronaldo. I will repeat it to make myself clear: I respect Cristiano Ronaldo.
"Everyone tells me what a fantastic professional he is. As for CR7, it’s different, he was my rival and I had to compete with him.
“When I said he always wanted the limelight, that when you win you are going to be the star but when you lose they will go for you, I said it in a very respectful way.
“And I think the same of [Lionel] Messi or Neymar. But my thoughts were not negative. What happens is that the press sold them differently, saying that I had spoken ill of him. And Ronaldo believed it.
"That’s why he did not greet me at the Ballon d’Or gala in 2015. I do not need to talk about anyone to go out in the newspapers. I have no ego."
