Why Cristiano Ronaldo refuses to swap shirts with Roma players

Portugal legend Cristiano Ronaldo has explained his decision not to swap shirts with Roma players.

Ronaldo is often regarded as one of the best players to ever play football after what has been a stellar career.

The Portuguese is a five-time Ballon d’Or winner and has a host of different records to his name.

Being one of the biggest stars in the sporting world, many players dream of swapping shirts with the Portugal captain after matches.

However, it has been reported that Ronaldo refuses to swap shirts with Roma players due to an incident back in 2007.

Playing for Manchester United at the time, Ronaldo and co. were up against Roma at Old Trafford.

After losing the first leg 2-1, Sir Alex Ferguson’s men produced a vintage performance to win 7-1 in the second leg.

Speaking to the Daily Express back in 2018, Ronaldo revealed he received threats from some Roma players during that night at Old Trafford.

He said: “When it was 6-0, they asked me to stop, an opponent begged me to stop dribbling.

“Others threatened to hurt me. Roma? There is no player with whom I would exchange a shirt.”

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According to Tribuna, Ronaldo did not swap shirts with Roma players during his time playing in the Serie A with Juventus.

Last January, Ronaldo shocked the football world as he made the decision to ditch European football for the Middle East.

The 38-year-old signed for Saudi Professional League side Al Nassr after his second stint with United ended in dramatic fashion.

Since Ronaldo’s move, clubs within Saudi Arabia have been spending big to lure other big names to the country.

This summer, the likes of Karim Benzema, Neymar, Roberto Firmino, N’Golo Kante, Fabinho and Jordan Henderson all made big-money moves to Saudi Arabia.

Ronaldo will be back in action this weekend as Al Nassr take on Al Raed on Saturday afternoon.