With touching letter: I was told I would never walk again

The 43-year-old praised fans who are keeping each other safe by staying at home and compared the difficulties the world is going through now to the difficulties he had faced during his career as a player.

For a few weeks I've been thinking about how to contact you at this delicate moment of self-isolation and bad news”, Ronaldo said in a letter posted on the club page.

I've finally decided to write this letter and hope you feel the love and consideration I'm writing with. From my house to yours. From my family to your”

We're separated from physical distance, but I'm convinced we've never been this close. Compassion is what's bringing us together now. This collective spirit, responsibility and humanity”.

The football has taught me many things. The greatest lesson has been how to go through difficult times. When I suffered my first injury and the most serious knee injury, people told me that I could never play again, that I could not walk in”.

I felt as if I had been taken my whole life. In those moments, I tested the boundaries, and I fought to change those thoughts and tell everyone that I could do what I wanted the most”.

There were three difficult years of rehabilitation, but I was motivated by the desire to feel again what I could only feel in the playing field, with the ball at my feet”.

In the end, the moment came, perhaps the most important career: in 2002, Japan, I was playing the World Cup final with Brazil. I scored two goals against Germany. For my country, the fifth title as champion; for me, the crowning of my return”.

I'm sure that when you get back to thinking, you'll think of the many occasions when you got up, of all your battles, and every time you got through these moments during your lifetime, you'll make it impossible and you'll be the person you're currently --”.

“As if you, I'm looking forward to getting home. I close my eyes and think of Zorro Stadium full of fans. This is the passion that motivates me. Outside the field, I am still motivated to face any challenge. Thank you for being with me. Stay strong. We're together and we're going to get stronger than all this”