Fabio Paim, a former teammate of Cristiano Ronaldo at Sporting, has recently spoken out about his experience playing alongside the Portuguese superstar. In an interview with The Sun, Paim revealed that he believed Ronaldo had told him that he was a better player than him before they separated.

Paim also discussed how fame and fortune had negatively impacted his life, leading to charges of drug dealing and ending up in prison. However, he claimed that if he had worked half as hard as Ronaldo, he would have been a better player and potentially competing for the Ballon d’Or alongside Lionel Messi.

Ronaldo responded to the interview on social media, expressing confusion over who this “character” was and suggesting that he did not remember Paim from their time together at Sporting. Despite this, Transfermarkt claims that Paim played for more than 20 clubs throughout his career and was worth up to 400,000 euros at one point while on loan at Chelsea.