Valladolid, Ronaldo’s club in Spain, has had a very poor start to the season in the national second division, with four points in five games, which leaves the team in 17th place in the competition, just one point above Real Oviedo, 19th and first team that opens the relegation zone for the Spanish third round.
The bad results have left Valladolid fans furious and the main targets of criticism are the duo Ronaldo Fenômeno, owner of the club, and Paulo Pezzolano, Uruguayan coach who led Cruzeiro to the 2022 Brasileirão Série B title and arrived at the Spanish club in the last April.
Valladolid fans had already been harshly criticizing Ronaldo and Pezzolano since their relegation to the second division last season, the club’s second in the “Phenomenon” era, but the irritation intensified with the poor start in La Liga 2.
— Cristian Pérez (@CristianPerez17) September 10, 2023
After the 1-1 draw with Elche, this Sunday (10), the fans raised their voice and started asking for the duo to leave. Several groups of Valladolid fans protested before, during and after the match, with banners and chants.
One of the banners read: “Five years of lies, on the brink of the abyss. Enough already!” Another, in which Pezzolano was also mentioned, read: “Ronaldo, go away now” and “Pezzomalo fuera”, with a pun using the Uruguayan’s name and “malo”, the Spanish word for “bad”.
RONALDO VETE YA pic.twitter.com/prYO1Ejy0y
— Pasión Violeta #RonaldoVeteYA (@Pasion_Violeta) September 10, 2023
“Ronaldo, where is the money?”
Among the critical chants from Valladolid fans, the shouts of “Ronaldo, f…, where is the money?” stood out. The criticisms refer to Ronaldo’s little financial investment in the club’s football, even though the club has sold players. In the last window, the Spanish team profited 38 million euros (R$202 million) from negotiations, but invested only 4.5 million euros (R$24 million) in reinforcements.
ZORRILLA HA HABLADO @Ronaldo pic.twitter.com/3fNIfTtRA6
— David Cacho (@cachitopucela) September 10, 2023
Furthermore, Fran Sánchez, the club’s director and very popular with fans and journalists, was fired on the eve of the start of the season due to disagreements with the club’s management.
Another recurring criticism that appeared again was in relation to the change in the club’s badge, promoted by the Fenômeno’s management.
At the end of the match against Elche, some fans surrounded Paulo Pezzolano to make demands regarding the club’s results. The Uruguayan coach explained to the fans and normalized the criticism in a post-game press conference, saying that “Screams from the stands are part of football” and that “The players left a spectacular image, Elche had no opportunities to score. In the face of adversity, we have to grow, we will do it.”
At dawn, Pezzolano came out of Zorrilla and got close to talking to the fans who were waiting for it
The coach has reassured and offered his arguments for the moment Real Valladolid is experiencing pic.twitter.com/vLAs7K1aRL
— MARCA VALLADOLID (@MARCAvalladolid) September 10, 2023
Since arriving at Valladolid, Paulo Pezzolano has won just four of the 16 games in which he led the team. The 40-year-old coach took over the team that was fighting to avoid falling into last season’s Spanish Championship, but even taking over the team outside the relegation zone, he did not prevent relegation. In the second division, performance has been worse.
Today, five years after buying Real Valladolid, Ronaldo suffers from criticism and is called a liar for failing to put into practice the project of transforming the club into a competitive team. The Spanish team has been a “yo-yo”, failing to remain in the first division for many consecutive seasons.
