Ronaldo

Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima, better known as Ronaldo, was born on September 18, 1976, in Itaguaí near Rio de Janeiro.

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He first started playing futsal and joined the Social Ramos Clube at the age of 12. His club scored a record  166 goals in his first season and he was noticed by former Brazil international Jairzinho who was coach for São Cristóvão. He was a phenomenal player for his age, and played for the under-17s and under-20s despite the fact he was only 15. Jairzinho then recommended him to his former club Cruzeiro and that is where he went for the 1993-94 season.

He immediately attracted the attention of the big European clubs. Not surprisingly since he scored 44 goals in 47 games in his two seasons, leading Cruzeiro to their first Copa do Brasil in 1993 and the Minas Gerais league title in 1994.

In 1994 Ronaldo was selected for the World Cup at just 17 but he never played. Romario advised Ronaldo to join PSV, where he himself had played from 1988 to 1993, and that is where he went.

He stayed two years in Holland using it as a type of apprenticeship for his future years in Europe. In two seasons he scored 54 goals in 57 matches, winning a national cup in 1995-96. During his second season he suffered a knee injury which limited his playing time.

In El he signed for Barcelona for 20 million dollars. With Barca he won a Cup Winners Cup and a Copa del Rey, scoring 47 goals in 49 appearances.

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Everybody now knew how good he was and how much potential he had, so it was time to move on. In that era the Italian clubs were the ones with the most money. Massimo Moratti and Sergio Cragnotti battled to the very end to get him and Inter won. It cost the club 51 billion lire, a world record at the time. In his first year at Inter he scored 34 goals in 47 appearances and Inter won a UEFA Cup. He was also awarded the Ballon d’Or.

In 1998 Ronaldo’s Brazil was one of the favourites to win the World Cup in France. They got to the final where they were to play against France. The day before the match Ronaldo had a convulsive fit and should never have been fielded, he could barely walk. But he  played and France won 3-0.

Injury issues plagued the 1998-99 season as they did the following season. Having purchased Christian Vieri from Lazio, Inter now had probably the best attacking duo on the planet. But Ronaldo suffered a serious injury in November at Lecce when he ruptured a tendon in his knee. He came back on the pitch on April 12 2000 in the first leg of the Coppa Italia final against Lazio. After six minutes another serious injury, a complete rupture of the knee-cap tendons.

He missed the 2000-01 season completely and returned in September 2001. He did not play much, just 16 games, but he did score 7 goals and Inter came into the final game against Lazio. They had a one-point lead over Juventus who played at Udine and two over Roma who faced Torino away from home. The Neroazzurri threw away the game and lost, handing Juve the title. One of the most iconic images of that time was Ronaldo sitting on the bench in tears.

But, most importantly for him, Ronaldo was ready for the World Cup 2002. Brazil won, beating Germany in the final. He scored 8 goals including a brace against the Germans.

Apart from the win, his message was “I’m ready for bigger things”. Despite Inter having waited for him to come back for over a year, after the World Cup he pleaded Moratti to sell him to Real Madrid claiming to have a bad relationship with manager Hector Cuper. He went to Spain for 45 million euros.

With Real Madrid in his first year he won the Intercontinental Cup and the Liga plus a second Ballon d’Or. In 2004-05 he started gaining weight and scored less. In the summer of 2006 manager Fabio Capello asked the club to buy him Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ronaldo played less and less. In the January transfer window, he asked to leave and Real sold him to AC Milan.

He continued to have injury problems and in 18 months made just 20 appearances. His contract was not renewed and he went back to Brazil and joined Corinthians. With the Rio club he won the Paulista League and the national Cup. But various injuries and his increasing weight meant an end to his career. While he was at Milan he was diagnosed with hypothyroidism but could not take drugs for it because they were considered doping.

When he quit football in 2011 he founded 9ine Sport & Entertainment, a sports marketing company, he joined the Brazil 2014 World Cup organizing committee, acquired a 10% stake in Fort Lauderdale Strikers in 2014 and 51% stake in Real Valladolid in 2018. In 2021 he bought 90% of the shares of Cruzeiro which he sold in 2024.

Ronaldo was one of the best centre forwards of all time. His speed was phenomenal and he was a goal scoring machine. But his career was marred by injuries, most of them pretty serious too but one must consider that, if one compares it to today, football was rather brutal back in the 90s. He won a lot less than he could have, but he still won two World Cups (plus another in which he did not play), a Liga title, UEFA Cup, Cup Winners Cup, two Copa Americas plus various national Cups. Not too bad after all.

Source

Wikipedia