How much did Barcelona refuse to pay for Cristiano Ronaldo and how many Champions League did they miss?

Could anybody in the world refuse to sign Cristiano Ronaldo himself? You’d probably think nobody. But there’s a man who had the guts to do so. And he was commanding a club, one of the biggest ones in the world: FC Barcelona. Club’s former president Joan Laporta revealed the story of the day in which he refused the Portuguese star.

The story recalls the days in which Cristiano Ronaldo was still playing in his country for Sporting Lisboa. “It was during the transfer market in 2003. We were about to sign Ronaldinho and Rafa Márquez. Rafa’s agents offered us to buy Cristiano too. One of them said he was going to sell him to Manchester United for €19 million, and offered us a deal for €17 million”, said Laporta.

In an interview with Twitter fan account Iniestazo, Laporta told the incredible story, Ronaldo was already a rising star in his home country, about to do his full international debut being just 18 years old. He was establishing himself as football’s future king with no Lionel Messi in sight then.

What did Laporta do, then? He refused. However, he gave his reasons: “In that moment our bet already was Ronaldinho. Also, in that moment, Cristiano was much more a wing player than a center striker. Back then our judgement was that there was no room for him in the line-up. And honestly, I have no regrets”.

What did they miss?

Instead, Cristiano Ronaldo went to Manchester United, five years later he won the UEFA Champions League and the World Club Cup with the English side. After that, he moved to Real Madrid and would go onto win the continental tournament in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018, lifting the World Club Cup too. In that period, Barcelona only did so in 2009, 2011 and 2015.