Mourinho, who moved from the Bernabéu to Stamford Bridge in June, belittled his Portuguese compatriot in an interview with ESPN, by declaring that "the real Ronaldo" was the former Brazil striker, with whom he worked during his period as a translator and assistant coach at Barcelona between 1996 and 1997.

Ronaldo responded by saying:I prefer to remember the good things from coaches. I don't spit on the plate from which I eat and I don't speak about people who say bad things about me.We are going to face Chelsea, not their coach. It is another warm-up game and we hope to win it so we can start La Liga in the best manner possible.

Mourinho responded by saying that Madrid was about politics, not about sport.

But I think that Mourinho should stop talking trash about Madrid and Ronaldo 'cause since he left thats the only stuff he's been doing.

What do you guys think?

Mourinho's ego is even bigger than his own head.

I think Ronaldo has, yet again, shown his maturity since leaving Old Trafford. He's done the right thing in choosing not to get into a war of words with Mourinho, something that Jose loves to have, and something that will just create more controversy. If Madrid beat Chelsea in the preseason game, I'll be happy that Real Madrid, as a club, can show Mourinho that they are a fantastic sports club, and not the political game that Mourinho states they are.

Tell it like it is Mourinho!! Love that guy..

Mature response from Cristiano but I do agree with Mourinho on this (rememeber, my own opinion). I honestly believe R9 was the better Ronaldo and I'm sure I'm not the only one here who thinks the same.

@Ven

I think so too. But R9 had tragic injuries that chopped his career into pieces. By the end of this decade, maybe we can look back on CR as the better Ronaldo, as CR would've had plenty of injury-free seasons to prove his talent (assuming he succeeds with Madrid in the years to come). Yes, Ronaldo O Fenomeno was more talented, but maybe in the end, CR can prove that hard work beats talent where talent doesn't work hard.

That is true... I'll have to think about that before I make a decision whether to change my mind or not.

Also, this interview is taken out of context. The original interview was recorded by video and when Mourinho said the real Ronaldo, he didn't mean it as an insult, he meant it as the original Ronaldo. You've got the hear his tone saying it to understand he wasn't insulting CR7.

@dynast i agree with you, his palmares is outstanding even with those injuries, he could be bigger.
2 world cups, best scorer in WC history....
Meanwhile, CR7 is the 2nd best constant player in history, he can not stop scoring just like Messi and what those 2 players are doing only Gerd muller and Pele could do. Even maradona could not be that constant.
Messi and Cr7 have one point on common, they never won world cup. but they are the best professional players ever.
it's very dificult to judge those 2 kinds of players, Messi\cr7 and R9\Zidane, stats vs trophies i like them both, but i just can't say that one kind is better than the other, they are both exeptional. ( im not sure if my point was clear :) language gap ).

@wolfie i didn't love the guy ( cr7 ) at the start, dives pretention diva atitude.... but he made me change my mind for him, he's not as talented as some players, but he developed an unbelievable strenth and speed, he is hard working and with Messi, they prooved that even with a lot of money some football players still concentrate everyday at 100 pr cent, he forced my respect even if i am Barça fan.
That's what Fergusson reproched to Rooney, he could be bigger than Cr7 and maybe Messi, but he was not that professional.

@Tiki

Well, Ronaldo didn't play a single game in '94 WC because he was too young, but his remarkable recovery from a terrible injury to win the 2002 WC was completely justifiable as one of the greatest WC players in history. But the difference with Zidane and O Fenomeno from CR and Leo is that France and Brazil back then were OUTSTANDING teams. Henry, Vieira, Thuram, Rivaldo, Roberto Carlos, Cafu, and Ronaldinho were part of those squads. All of these players were justifiable as some of the best in the world. And Ronaldo has.... Moutinho. Messi has a much better chance at WC glory with di Maria, Higuain, Aguero, Mascherano, Garay, etc., but poor CR has almost no chance. I think that if CR and Leo had teams like Zidane and Ronaldo were gifted with, they would've been certain to win a major national trophy by now.

@Dynastian,

Surprised you think Moutinho and Ronaldo are the only great players Portugal's got. Pepe, Coentrão and Nani (when he wants) are all top players. I don't think a team with only two great players would manage to cope with Spain, Germany and Netherlands as well as they did in the Euros and almost reach the final.

My point is simply you shouldn't underrate this national team when the World Cup comes, despite the poor qualifying results. For some very strange reason Portugal is omitted from most talks as a feared side, and despite this, they show time after time that they reach far. A Portugal in form can beat any side in the world.

Dont understand why Mourinho attacked Cristiano!
Yes Fenomeno was probably better,so what?
He is disrepecting Cristiano without no reason.
My respect to cristiano for no dealing with what mourinho said.
If mourinho cannot respect the player that keep his team "alive" in every competition those years then he can't respect anything!
When he was at madrid everyone said that mou is selfish and dont show respect to others but Madridistas disagreed,now i hope they will watch things from a different view..
#Respect Cristiano!

Well... can't say anything really... Mourinho is quite a sad person to say that!

@Golden

Indeed, you are right, but when the Portuguese are attacking, it looks like Ronaldo is the only major threat. If you look at Argentina, Messi is not the only threat, but Higuain, di Maria, Aguero, Lavezzi, and Gaitan are present as well. It's a team that can score from multiple angles. But Portugal's major threat is really Ronaldo. They do somehow score with other players, but I just don't find them the type of WC threatening team. I know that they've been knocked out in the last two tournaments by eventual winners Spain, and that is indeed testament to their talent, but they are not of the same caliber as most other WC threatening teams.

Postiga and Almeida are far too old to play for Portugal consistently anymore. Oliveira needs more experience. Meireles is slowly getting older (but is still pretty good). Bruno Alves and Pepe are both aging. Nani is also very inconsistent. That usually leaves Veloso, Ronaldo, Moutinho, Patricio, and Coentrao (I don't find Pereira all that much of a threat).

I'm sorry mate, I like Portugal too, but I just don't see them on the same level as Spain, Argentina, Germany, etc. :/

Let me rephrase that. We were comparing O Fenomeno's team with Ronaldo's, right? Well all I just have to say is,

Postiga and Almeida combined cannot be Rivaldo
Moutinho and Meireles combined won't give you Ronaldinho
Coentrao isn't Roberto Carlos
Pereira is nowhere near Cafu

Or,

Moutinho and Meireles combined cannot be Zidane
Veloso is never going to be Vieira
Postiga and Almeida combined won't be Henry OR Trezeguet
Pereira isn't Lilian Thuram
Nani isn't Ribery

So you see, today's Portugal team isn't much compared to previous WC winners. They can just have a good chance of beating Spain because they have that counter-attacking type of players, who are used to facing possession teams like Spain. :/

Fair comment indeed, Dyna. Well delivered answer as usual. I got the impression that you think Portugal's got only to good players, which I clearly don't agree. I apologize my misunderstanding. =)

@Golden

No, it's okay. It was nice talking to you after a while. :)

Don and ramaboy: He doesn't mean it the way you think. Read my second post in this thread to understand.

that is true.. Whole spain says that and CR/ is Cristiano, Ronaldo is Ronaldo .

Well Mourinho can fix this by coming out and clarifying that he was not trying to insult CR. But he probably won't. Because he is an arrogant, self-serving cretin. @Vendetta, you cannot read Mourinho's mind so don't even try. I saw the interview. He didn't have to compare the two Ronaldos in that context. We all knew he was talking about what happened earlier in his career and not at Real Madrid.

^Very well, you see it the way you do and I'll see it the way I do.