At the end of training on Friday, as Real Valladolid’s players left the annex next to the José Zorrilla stadium and headed off under grey skies, rain preparing to roll in, a surprise waited for them. It was the final session before the weekend their coach said would show what hopes they had, an opportunity not so much to save their season as still have one, and there was he was: the Original Ronaldo, in the flesh. He came to encourage them, he said, going round the dressing room reminding them what it means to be committed, always. “Thank you for accompanying the team before the Valencia game!” the club tweeted, exclamation included. The Brazilian, after all, is one of the greatest footballers ever.
He is also their owner and president. But still this was unexpected: they hadn’t seen him for months and didn’t think they would see him now either. He had been in the directors’ box for Valladolid’s first game of the season, which they had won, and when they played Real Madrid at the Bernabéu the following week too, which they hadn’t. Since then, as they watched their team slide towards the second division, abandoned to an increasingly inevitable fate, he hadn’t been back. “Where is the president?” supporters had sung. One day in November, while they were playing Getafe, he was playing tennis. They knew that because he had broadcast it on Twitch. So the following week, they set up a game in the stands, giant foam rackets hitting a ball back and forth.
