Brazil ace Ronaldinho saw a Sweden soccer player in a Beijing hotel and promptly asked her to marry him, the Gothenburg midfielder told a Stockholm daily Tuesday.
Johanna Almgren, 24, said her team, which lost to Germany in the quarterfinals, was signing autographs in the hotel lobby when the 28-year-old two-time world footballer of the year spotted her.
''Ronaldinho ignored all the Chinese fans and came straight across to me. He looked me in the eyes, took my hands and kissed them. I almost fainted''.
The Brazil star, whose team lost to Argentina in the semi-final, called Almgren from his hotel room and asked her to come up.
Ronaldinho's poor English and Almgren's ''horrible'' Spanish and Portuguese prevented communication until Ronaldinho called an English-speaking Brazil team mate in.
''He told me that Ronaldinho had asked me to marry him. I was amazed and immediately said No,'' Almgren told Stockholm newspaper Boras Tidning.
''I've got my boyfriend Adam at home and I'll have to keep him calm when I tell him about the meeting with the Brazilians,'' said Almgren, who was drafted into the Sweden squad as a last-minute replacement for an injured player.
