Ronaldo Responds To Michael Owen’s Joke About His Condition

On Saturday, before Real Madrid thrashed Granada 5-0, Cristiano Ronaldo presented his fourth Ballon d’Or to the Bernabeu crowd.

To mark the occasion, Los Blancos invited former Ballon d’Or winners to the match – these included Michael Owen, Ronaldo (the Brazilian), Zinedine Zidane and Luis Figo.

A fine presentation went off with no hitches until after the game, when Owen, not for the first time, put his foot in it.

“I thought I was putting the pounds on…"


After the Real Madrid match, Michael Owen took a sly dig at the Brazilian Ronaldo, a former team mate of his at the Bernabeu, on Twitter.

Much like his punditry, you can sort of see what Owen has gotten at – the Tweet certainly has a lot of retweets – over 5,000 now – but it is very much out of order.


The former Liverpool and Manchester United striker wrote: “I thought I was putting the pounds on until I saw my old mate Ronnie!”


At this point, it has to be pointed out that Ronaldo suffers from hypothyroidism – an illness that causes weight gain and a puffy face. Perhaps Owen doesn’t know about the condition?

Ronaldo responds

Either way, Ronaldo has responded to the Michael Owen Tweet, to Madrid-based newspaper AS.

The 2002 World Cup winner said: “I did not talk to him [Owen] after he wrote that, but I’m afraid the importance of my weight still remains in the world we live in. I do not know what that means, really?"

Fellow Real Madrid and Brazil legend Roberto Carlos also entered the discussion, saying: “I do not like that kind of joke really, because I am very close friends with Ronaldo … Let’s take care of him. Ronaldo is not the body, it’s the heart, because he has a big heart.”