July 12, 1998 belongs to history, in France. In Brazil, it is synonymous with a painful memory. Ready to keep its title won four years earlier in the United States, the Seleçao was indeed corrected by the Blues, 3-0 winners thanks in particular to a double of Zinedine Zidane.
In the opposite camp, Ronaldo, the Brazilian star, was unrecognizable. And for good reason, a few hours before the start of the meeting, he was the victim of an unexplained crisis and was taken to the hospital. And if some have seen an epilepsy crisis, others are convinced that it was a heart attack.
Bruno Caru, former president of the Italian Society of Cardiology of Sport, is convinced. “Ronaldo was lying on his bed and was watching a Formula 1 Grand Prix on television. He then folded his head in a non -natural way. Blood was no longer circulating. He had a drop in heart rate and blood pressure. He fell into apples ”,
he said in the past, adding: “By checking the file carefully, once in the hospital, he had 18 pulses per minute. This means that at the time of the crisis, the heart had stopped beating. So French doctors have stubbornly and gave themselves the diagnosis of the epilepsy crisis issued by Roberto Carlos and not by a doctor. »»
Aimé Jacquet did not want to change anything
Ronaldo's state of health obviously weighed in the debates. Some in the tricolor camp were also aware of the situation of the Milanese striker. The fault of a phone call between Roberto Carlos, who shared R9's room, and Christian Karembeu.
“After a program on Spanish radio, where I was invited with Roberto Carlos, we continued to speak both on the phone. 'So how are you? We will fight you, anyway, we have Zizou. – And we, Ronaldo! ' Kids, what! And there, he marks a stop and he speaks in Brazilian, 'para, para, carai!' I ask him what's going on. 'It's the other there, he makes me jokes.' He believed that Ronaldo was catinging him in his room, but in fact he would really twist “he said in the columns of So Foot.
“Robbie hangs up, I remind you, and he said to me: 'Fuck, Ronaldo went to the hospital. 'He was shocked. He tells me everything, and I say to myself: 'Damn, I have to give the coach the info.', he continued. But to believe it, this announcement had little effect on Aimé Jacquet, visibly determined to change nothing when approaching the final.
“The coach, still very meticulous,” says nothing to the group, “ he assured. This is where he was very intelligent and master of the situation. On D -Day, his speech was: 'No matter who will play, we don't change teams, we don't change tactics. “”
