I was recently reading an article about a much maligned and ridiculed Brazilian called Ronaldo. Jokes about his weight and idiotic behaviour were the order of the day. Currently playing for Corinthians in the Brazilian top flight he has been forgotten by European Football. Now this is a lesson for the kids who've grown up with large doses of Cristiano Ronaldo about the "real Ronaldo".
He started his career at Cruziero after the legendary Jairzinho spotted him for the club. He was snapped up by the club only to be sold on to Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven who already had previously had a certain Romario on their books. In his time playing in Holland he scored 42 goals in 46 games, just short of an amazing goal a game record. With this kind of form it wasn't long before he was gaining the attention of major clubs from around Europe.
In 1996 Barcelona came calling and Ronaldo gladly accepted the opportunity to strut his stuff in La Liga. He played for one season in Spain scored 34 goals in 37 games on his way to a Uefa Cup Winners Cup medal and winning the prestigious World Player of the Year Award. This was an amazing feat for an 20 year old but his time at Barcelona was only short and a move for Italian club Inter Milan was his next course of action.
When Ronaldo moved to Serie A it was widely acknowledged as the best and toughest league in the world. He only won a solitary Uefa Cup whilst playing for Inter but what I find impressive was the number of personal accolades he received during his time at the club. He became World Player of the Year for a second time, won the Ballon D'or widely recognised as the premier trophy for an individual player, what was stunning about these feats was that they were achieved in the same year...
Following his success with Inter he moved to join the Galacticos of Real Madrid, this is where I feel his fortunes changed for the worse. He won during his time at Madrid, the Pichichi (the La Liga top scorer award) and the La Liga but had no European success. In my mind his hattrick against Manchester United in the Champions League at Old Trafford really sticks out. During this time at Madrid due to the party culture and lack of discipline at the club he became overweight and injury prone.
Now I've explained his club successes I have move on to his international career.He made his debut in 1994 against rivals Argentina. He was then included in the 1994 World Cup winning squad although he didn't play this was an achievement in itself at 17 years old. He then went on to play in the 1998 World Cup in France in which he scored 4 and provided 3 assists to help Brazil reach the final. On the eve of the final he suffered a fit but still decided to play and ended up on the losing side.
Ronaldo went one better and won the World Cup in 2002 in Korea and Japan finishing top scorer after scoring twice in the final against Germany. This was his peak for his country, he did play in the 2006 in Germany this was important as in this tournament he became top scorer in World Cup history scoring 15 goals beating Gerd Mullers record of 14 goals.
Now I understand that he has declined since those heady days at the top of international and club football but which player hasn't Pele played in the MLS of his day by the end of his career, Cryuff never won a World Cup and Zidane got sent off in the World Cup Final, I feel we should lay off Ronaldo and appreciate how good he actually was, like we do for the three mentioned, instead of making him the butt of our jokes.
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