"When I first arrived in Milan, some of the other players formed their own little group and made sure to exclude me . . . Some of them would do silly things such as tell a joke that they knew I couldn't possibly understand or speak badly about me behind my back. I think they did it out of envy."

The quote comes from Inter Milan's Ronaldo, currently recuperating from an operation on tendons in his right knee. Ronaldo might well have been the world's most famous footballer when he arrived at Inter Milan in the summer of 1997 but that did not cut much ice with his newly-acquired teammates.

The devoted fan may like to think otherwise but tensions, rivalries and jealousies form the DNA of the average dressingroom - be it Inter Milan or Sunday Morning Old Timers United.

Fans like to imagine that their sporting heroes are willing to pull together for success. Club owners like to think of their "boys" as one big happy family. The reality, of course, is rather different:

"I live in the same apartment block as two team-mates, Francesco Moriero and Ivan Zamorano. Yet, I've never been inside their homes and they've never been in mine," said Ronaldo.

True enough, replied Moriero, adding:

"Ronaldo is right. What he's saying is just one example but he has put his finger on the central issue. The truth is that we players are divided by too many (rival) interests for us to have room for friendship."

Sportsmen tend to have big egos. They like to think they are the best. When the newest whizzkid arrives in your dressingroom, there can be tensions.

When Ronaldo arrived at Inter three years ago, he found that Chilean Zamorano absolutely refused to let him have the number nine shirt. For his first season, the Brazilian played in a number 10 shirt only having the "right" to the number nine shirt the following year after he had clearly "won his spurs".

Professional collaboration is one thing, friendship quite another. Perhaps that is what the Inter captain of the day, Beppe Bergomi, told his club owner, Massimo Moratti, when summoned by him, during Ronaldo's first autumn at Inter to explain the rumours regarding tensions between "Il Fenomeno" and his team-mates.

Professional collaboration meant that Argentine Diego Simeone set up Ronaldo for several of his 34 first season goals for Inter, notwithstanding serious bad feelings between the pair.

Professional collaboration set up the goals for Ronaldo. Personal jealousies meant that, on occasion last season, when Ronaldo would return to the dressing-room after physiotherapy, he would find that his knee protector had gone missing.

When Ronaldo finally gets back into action following his most recent knee operation, he will be keeping a close eye on his kit.