‘That’s how destiny works’… Cristiano Ronaldo reveals how close he was to joining Barcelona | OneFootball

The rivalry between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid is one of the most intense in the world of football and a key part of the identity and history of both these clubs.

This intensity of the rivalry makes players from both these sides give their best performances whenever they line up against one another, and this was particularly the case for Cristiano Ronaldo, the former Real Madrid superstar, as he himself admitted this in a recent interview.

However, the Portuguese forward could well have played on the opposite side in an El Clasico if things had gone a little differently in his career. As SPORT has reported, the Al-Nassr star himself revealed this as he appeared in an interview with Edu Aguirre.

Photo by Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images

Talking about the time when he broke out in the Sporting CP team, Ronaldo revealed that Barcelona were among the teams that were interested in his signing:

“It was a phase when I was at Sporting, and I had the chance to play for several clubs, one of them being Barça. Someone spoke to me and approached me for a transfer. But it didn’t happen… I could have signed for Barça.”

However, Manchester United were quicker to scoop him up at that time: “Maybe they wanted to sign me the following year, but Manchester United took me in an instant. That’s how destiny works.”

One can only imagine how things would have gone if Barcelona had ended up signing Ronaldo, and thus fielded him along with the likes of Messi, Xavi, and Iniesta.

Ultimately, he signed for their biggest rivals, Real Madrid, after his stint at Manchester United, and went on to write his name in the Blaugrana club’s history, albeit in a very different manner. Overall, he scored 18 goals against Barcelona during his time at Real Madrid, and another 2 with Juventus in the UCL.