Cristiano Ronaldo has always been known as one of the greatest soccer players of all time, but there’s a little-known story that has been circulating about a teammate he had at Sporting who was supposedly better than him. Fabio Paim and Ronaldo reportedly played together at the beginning of their careers, and Paim claimed that Ronaldo told him he was a better player than him.

Despite this, things between the two players didn’t go smoothly. In an interview with The Sun, Paim spoke about how fame and fortune had destroyed his life after he and Ronaldo separated. He also revealed how he ended up in prison on charges of drug dealing. In the same interview, Paim stated that Ronaldo had said something to the effect of “If you think I’m good, wait until you see Fabio Paim.”

Paim repeated this story in a podcast, where he also claimed that if he worked half as hard as Ronaldo, he would be Messi’s main competitor for the Ballon d’Or. However, Ronaldo himself did not respond to this claim in the way that many expected. On social media, he commented: “WTF? Who is this character?” It seems like it’s clear that the Portuguese star does not remember Paim.

Transfermarkt claims that Paim played for over 20 clubs throughout his career, and at his peak, he was worth around 400,000 euros while on loan at Chelsea. Despite his successes on the field, it’s clear that Paim’s personal life took a turn for the worse after his fallout with Ronaldo.