Teenage goalkeeper relives moment he trained with CR7

 

A teenage goalkeeper has revealed the incredible moment he found he was training with Cristiano Ronaldo during lockdown.

Filipe Goncalves is a goalkeeper for the youth team of Portugese side Nacional and one day was woken up by a phone call asking him to go and train at the Madeira Stadium in Portugal.

Football across the world had been put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic so Goncalves was surprised by the call.

‘We thought it was to work with the main squad,’ the 18-year-old told A BOLA.

When Goncalves arrived at the stadium and entered the pitch with his team-mate Hugo Mosca, on the grass was Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo.

‘We were incredulous, it seemed like a dream. We looked at each other and were speechless, we had no idea,’ remembers Goncalves.

Ronaldo was in insolation in Madeira and asked the former club for permission to use the facilities.

There were 10 training sessions in total, only three were with Hugo Mosca.

Goncalves’ colleague returned home and Ronaldo trained alone with just Goncalves. At first it was a secret and Gonclaves couldn’t even tell his closest family.

The youngster said: ‘I couldn’t tell anyone at all. It was forbidden. The information was that Nacional had returned to training and my parents thought that.’Until BOLA discovered Ronaldo in the Choupana and the secret was discovered.

‘It was total madness. Only when the news came out did I talk to my parents,’ Goncalves said. The Nacional goalkeeper also trained with Ronaldo’s son Cristiano Jr.

Read AlsoTeenager Davies extends Bayern Munich deal

‘Our job was just to be on target for finishing exercises. Ronaldo did running and strength work, he never stopped, we followed.

‘Sometimes we stayed with the son doing some shots. The kid knows, he has skills, good technique and strength. For his age, he is on the right path,’ said Goncalves.