Forgotten former Cristiano Ronaldo team-mate now living ‘dream’ life as a FISHERMAN after retiring at 33
pThe Portuguese former full-back played alongside a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/who/cristiano-ronaldo/Cristiano Ronaldo/a both with a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/team/1250296/real-madrid/Real Madrid/a and his country./p
figure id=attachment_23702939 class=wp-caption alignnone style=width: 970pximg decoding=async src=https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/f-bio-coentr-o-face-841172103.jpg?strip=allamp;w=960 alt= class=alignnone size-thesun-article-image wp-image-23702939 width=960 height=496 /figcaption class=wp-caption-text/figcaptionfigcreditYOUTUBE @Brands-Channel/figcredit/figureFabio Coentrao has become a fisherman since hanging up his boots[/caption]
figure id=attachment_23702984 class=wp-caption alignnone style=width: 970pximg decoding=async src=https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/real-madrids-cristiano-ronaldo-chats-288697546.jpg?strip=allamp;w=960 alt= class=alignnone size-thesun-article-image wp-image-23702984 width=960 height=610 /figcaption class=wp-caption-text/figcaptionfigcreditCopyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved./figcredit/figureThe Portuguese star was pals with Cristiano Ronaldo at Real Madrid[/caption]
pCoentrao and Ronaldo became pals during their years of playing together./p
pBut unlike CR7, Coentrao hasn#8217;t opted to play on deep into his 30s./p
pThe former left-sided player was on the books at Real Madrid between 2011 and 2018./p
pHe played over 100 times for the Spanish giants, twice winning the a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/topic/champions-league/Champions League/a./p
pFollowing his Real Madrid departure he played for Rio Ave in Portugal, before calling it a day to focus on his other passion #8211; fishing./p
pCoentrao bought his first fishing boat while on the books at Real, having been raised to love the ocean by his father./p
pHe said: #8220;The roots have been here since I was born./p
p#8220;My father always had a boat, he was really into fishing.#8221;/p
p class=has-text-align-centerstronga href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/betting/21007381/best-no-deposit-casino-bonuses/ target=_blank aria-label=BETTING SPECIAL - BEST NO DEPOSIT CASINO OFFERS (opens in a new tab) rel=noreferrer noopenerBETTING SPECIAL #8211; BEST NO DEPOSIT CASINO OFFERS/a/strong/p
pCoentrao, now 35, added: #8220;I used to go a lot with my father. I liked it very much./p
p#8220;Whenever I had that bit of time off, whenever I was on holiday, my life was#8230; it was the sea, it was fishing./p
p#8220;And of course I knew that one day football would end, I would have to take another direction in my life./p
p#8220;My happiness is this land, the sea. And obviously that being so, I want to lead this life.#8221;/p
pAs of last year, Coentrao had built a team of 45 people, working across three active ships./p
pHe is delighted to have numerous younger people working with him, as he is passionate about getting people to follow in his footsteps by working in the industry./p
pWhile Ronaldo a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/12265616/cristiano-ronaldo-yacht-azimut-grande-sardinia/loves spending time on superyachts/a, Coentrao is quite content on a trawler./p
pSpeaking to the a href=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjPVnJcXRis target=_blank aria-label=Empower Brands Channel (opens in a new tab) rel=noreferrer noopenerEmpower Brands Channel/a, he said: #8220;Life in the sea is not a shame, as many people think./p
p#8220;It is a job like any other. Not only that, the sea is beautiful and we need it./p
p#8220;It has that there are people working here and the profession should be respected like any other.#8221;/p
figure id=attachment_23703006 class=wp-caption alignnone style=width: 970pximg decoding=async loading=lazy src=https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/pepe-cristiano-ronaldo-fabio-coentrao-329470892.jpg?strip=allamp;w=960 alt= class=alignnone size-thesun-article-image wp-image-23703006 width=960 height=652 /figcaption class=wp-caption-text/figcaptionfigcreditGetty - Contributor/figcredit/figureCoentrao, 35, played in Madrid alongside compatriots Ronaldo and Pepe[/caption]