While this July 12 marks the 25th anniversary of the triumph of the Blues against Brazil in 1998 (3-0), the final is the subject of many fantasies around Ronaldo.
The triumphant road of the Blues to the 1998 World Cup was marked with the seal of success. From the golden goal scored by Laurent Blanc in the round of 16 to the improbable double from Lilian Thuram in the semi-finals, including the shot on goal sent by Luigi Di Biagio on the crossbar in the quarter-finals. In the final, the victory of the France team in Brazil (3-0) suffered no challenge. Nevertheless, Aimé Jacquet’s men received a helping hand from fate.
Ronaldo, the lethal weapon of the Seleçao, was indeed the victim of a serious illness the night before the final. So much so that an hour before kick-off, the star of Inter Milan does not appear on the score sheet, replaced by Edmundo. The Brazilian center-forward is finally present in the warm-up and established at the forefront of the attack, nevertheless delivering a very sluggish performance. A few hours earlier, Il Fenomeno was however at the Clinique des Lilas in order to carry out cardiac and neurological examinations and no one imagines him playing against France. Mario Zagallo also reminds his players that Brazil in 1962 won the World Cup without the injured Pelé.
This discomfort of Ronaldo and the turnaround of the Brazilian staff are still shrouded in mystery. “The real mystery is that no one knows the cause of this discomfort before the final, assured his former agent in a documentary devoted by RMC to the Brazilian, refuting the idea that Nike could have put pressure on the management of the Seleçao to see Ronaldo start. But according to sports doctor Jean-Pierre de Mondenard, this discomfort could be explained by an infiltration received in order to treat his knee problems.
“It was common. You are not allowed to take cortoids generally, but you could take some by infiltration. His body didn’t want to play, but his employer wants him to play. We’re going to push the body by doing an infiltration, it’s doping. If you do an infiltration with an anesthetic to make the injection less painful and if you prick in a vessel, it can go directly to the heart and you have a pseudo-epileptic seizure”he confided, as he had written in his book Doping in football, published in 2010.
His physiotherapist, Nilton Petrone, however, has another explanation. “I do not believe it. It could be stress or something else. He had the sentimental problems of a 21-year-old boy in love who dreams of getting married. He was stressed about things other than football and that made him feel unwell.”he said.
