Cristiano Ronaldo’s new club Al Nassr’s sports nutritionist Jose Blesa has discussed the impact that the Portuguese’s arrival has had on the team as well as his focus on maintaining optimal fitness.
Plenty of eyebrows were raised when Cristiano Ronaldo had to ditch the glamour, luxury and limelight of Europe to move to the anonymity of Saudi Arabia. The five-time Ballon d’Or winner’s controversial interview with Piers Morgan where he launched as scathing attack on Manchester United’s head coach Erik ten Hag as well as several of its former players had disastrous consequences.
The Red Devils, where Ronaldo first made a name for himself in the world of football, decided to tear up his contract and remove him from the squad. As a result, Ronaldo found himself in the wilderness for a little while before taking the next step in his career by signing for Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia.
Now in Riyadh, Ronaldo has taken to life quite well. He scored four goals in a recent match against Al-Wehda and also registered two assists against Al-Taawoun.
Beyond his goals on the pitch or the growth in marketing and sponsorships off it, Cristiano Ronaldo has also had a massive impact on the dressing room and has influenced several players to take proper care of their fitness and work on maintaining their bodies.
Ronaldo has obviously been associated with hardcore fitness throughout his career and he has never been shy to take off his shirt and flex his muscles and abs after scoring a crucial goal in an important match. The 38-year-old is also extremely educated about the side of nutrition and diet and how it contributes to his physique.
Al Nassr’s nutritionist Jose Blesa touched upon the topic and discussed Ronaldo’s impact at the club recently.
“Cristiano has a very good nutritional education and eats a wide variety of foods to have energy for every game and training, without any strange intervention that is in fashion” José Blesa told the Spanish newspaper Ideal.
“Since he’s been here, all the players have been training harder and following a stricter diet … I have not seen a club like this in which the players improve practically 90% in their body composition every time I see them: they have less fat, more muscle and they do all the exercises at their fingertips. It is a luxury to work there.”
Blesa also admitted that he was quite curious about how it would be like to work with one of the most popular people on the planet and a generational icon in the sport. He went on to praise Cristiano Ronaldo’s professionalism, saying, “He is the best footballer in history or one of the two best. I was uncertain, like everyone else, about what it was going to be like to work with him and if the club was going to change a lot, but I haven’t found a more professional footballer than him.
“Every conversation with him is a learning. We met and talked about his diet, about how he understands the importance of this and rest for performance. He wears two rest meters: the ring and the bracelet.”
The smart ring is designed to track Ronaldo’s sleep and physical activities. The ring automatically detects when the user is sleeping or moving. It measures important vitals like heart rate, respiration rate, body temperature and movement.
“Cristiano helps me a lot, because we can no longer teach him anything, but he creates a school around him. The rest of the players do what he does because everything he does is wonderful to improve his performance. Since he has been here, all the players have trained more intensely and followed a stricter diet,” the nutritionist said.
“He is the first to arrive at training and the last to leave. Dealing with him is wonderful.”