Former Portuguese footballer Fabio Paim, once seen as a greater talent than Cristiano Ronaldo during their days at Sporting Lisbon, has made a surprising career shift into the adult film industry.
Paim, who briefly played for Chelsea on loan, has drawn considerable attention and stirred controversy with this new path.
He recently sparked further discussion by comparing himself to Ronaldo, contrasting their divergent career journeys.
“Here in Portugal [the news about the pornographic film] is all the rage, everyone is going crazy,” Paim admitted in an old interview with Globo Esporte via Record.
“Do you know why? Because people don’t take it the wrong way, that’s just how I am.
“On a podcast, I said that my dream was to be a pornographic actor. I got a lot of offers. I was on the news, I was on the front pages of newspapers… And I hadn’t done anything.”
Speaking further, he said he was more talented than the legendary Cristiano Ronaldo.
“He grew up with me, we spent a long time together,” Paim said.
“I was Sporting’s number one at that time. Cristiano started to be Cristiano when he went to Manchester. Even then, nobody knew he would become what he is today. Today Cristiano is the king, Paim is nobody… I had more talent. But talent is nothing, talent is just a little bit. If you don’t have the rest, you’ll be nobody.”
“Cristiano Ronaldo should offer me one of his Ballon d’Ors,” Paim said on a podcast hosted by PT Clipes.
“If I had half of Cristiano’s head, it wouldn’t be him and Messi. It would be me, him and Messi and maybe he wouldn’t have won the Ballon d’Ors that he has.”
Following his previous remarks in 2023, Ronaldo, 39, responded with a cold dismissal on Instagram, writing, “Wtf??? Who is this guy?”
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