Football: New book on the Ronaldo affair

AUTHOR WENSLEY Clarkson claims he has found the definitive answer to the question of what happened to Ronaldo in the World Cup final and his publisher was on Friday energetically touting the findings around the world's biggest book fair to publishers ready to wave their chequebooks.

Publisher John Blake, mindful of media serialisation rights, would not reveal all but did say: "Ronaldo had a girlfriend problem, a medical drug situation and there were even people involved with black magic which upset him."

Clarkson flew to Brazil after the country's shock 3-0 defeat by France in the World Cup final and launched an investigation. "He met Ronaldo, his father and two of the player's agents," Blake said at the Frankfurt book fair, which has attracted almost 6,800 publishers, where he hopes to attract interest in the biography entitled Ronaldo: 21 years of genius and 90 minutes that shook the world.

"It was the great sports story of the year and the mystery that no one understood," Blake said. "Ronaldo has not authorised this book but he has raised no objections. It is a fascinating story that reads like a novel. He was determined to get out of the ghetto and not get involved in the drug scene."

After the World Cup final, Ronaldo told reporters that he had taken prescribed sedatives to recover from a convulsion before the match: "The doctor told me I could have been under emotional stress and agitated so he gave me some sedatives."

The player said he suffered the convulsion in his hotel room just hours before the final, adding: "I don't remember anything. But when I woke up, I remember feeling pain all over my body, my back, my legs, everywhere."

But he said he asked to be included in the team for the final after resting for 30 minutes in bed and going through medical tests which showed nothing was wrong, although his subsequent lacklustre performance suggested otherwise.