In what was something of a throwback to their first meeting back in 1999, Ronaldo surprised MotoGP Legend and Nerazzuri fan Valentino Rossi with a signed Inter shirt after the final race of his career at the Valencia GP.
Valentino Rossi ended an illustrious career on Sunday at the Valencia Grand Prix and received widespread acclaim and plaudits, with Inter keen to mark the occasion. They sent along El Fenomeno himself, Ronaldo, to deliver a signed Inter shirt to Rossi, who has never hidden his love for the Nerazzuri. The meeting mirrored a meeting between the pair that took place 22 years ago, back in 1999.
The nine-times world champion brought down the curtain on an illustrious 25-year MotoGP career on Sunday at the season-ending Valencia Grand Prix. The grizzled veteran of MotoGP started his grand prix career in February 1996, during 125cc pre-season testing. To put that in perspective, the reigning MotoGP world champion wasn’t even born when Rossi screamed his Aprilia RS125R out of the pit lane at Jerez that day.
Throughout his career he has never hidden his love for Inter, often being seen at the San Siro. In return, Inter have always acknowledged one of their greatest fans, specifically congratulating him following his MotoGP World Championship wins in 2008 and 2009. However, in a 2008 interview, Rossi admitted that he was a fan of Sampdoria early on and switched loyalties to support the Nerazzurri only after legendary Brazilian striker Ronaldo joined them. Fitting that he was the man to deliver Inter’s retirement gift then.
Legendary...
