RONALDINHO- CAREER THROUGH FOOTBALL STICKERS

Do you have you childhood hero? I started to watch football since young age and for me best player I have ever seen is Ronaldinho. He kind of unique player in football history. You had to love him despite you supported other clubs.

The football greatest, Ronaldo de Assis Moreira "Ronaldinho". He was born in Porto Alegre. He lost his father when he was eight. His older brother Roberto was also a big talent. When Roberto signed for Gremio, Ronaldinho and his mother moved to to a villa. It was a gift from Gremio just to keep Roberto. Roberto didn't made big career because of injuries. He later became brothers manager. Ronaldo like his brother was also a big talent. At the age of 13 he scored all 23 goals in a 23-0 victory against local team. He started his career with Gremio. 

Ronaldinho career in stickers (pictures):

Gremio 1998: First senior season for Ronaldinho. He made his debut in Copa Libertadores match. 

Gremio 1999 (Panini Campeonato Brasileiro): This is first Ronaldinho sticker. This sticker cost more then $300. 

Gremio 2000: There wasn't his sticker in Panini Brazil league album 2000. But he was on the team photo sticker (picture down). In three seasons with Gremio, Ronaldinho played 145 matches and scored 72 goals.  

Gremio 2000 Panini- team photo

Brazil Copa America 2001 (Navarrete): Ronaldinho made international debut in 1999 against Latvia. It was three days before the start of Copa America. He was part of Brazilian winning squad at 1999 CA tournament. However he didn't played at 2001 Copa America. 

PSG 2001/02 (Panini FOOT): First European club for Ronaldinho. He signed a 5 year contract. Before PSG he was conected with Arsenal. 

Brazil World Cup 2002 (Panini): This sticker was printed as a part of Brazil update set (printed only in Brazil, I think). This sticker is rare and also expensive. Ronaldinho was important player for Brazil at 2002 WC tournament. He appeared in 5 matches scoring 2 goals and added several assists. He scored amazing free kick goal from 35 meters in a quarter--final match vs England. It was a winning goal of the match. At the end of first half he also assisted to Rivaldo for Brazil equalizer goal. World Cup title is most important trophy in his career. 

PSG 2002/03 (Panini FOOT): His second season with Paris. He played very good football but he wasn't in good relationship with PSG manager Luis Fernandez. In 2002/03 Paris finished in a disappointing 11-th place and they didn't qulified for any European competition. Because of that Ronaldinho declared that we want to leave the club. 25 goals in 86 matches. 

Barcelona 2003/04 (Colecciones ESTE): Barcelona signed him for €30 milions. In his first season with Catalan club he already showed that he will become one of the main players there.    

Brazil Copa America 2004 (Navarrete): He didn't played for Brazil at 2004 Copa America tournament. 

Barcelona 2004/05 (Colecciones ESTE): In this season he won his first La Liga title and first for Barcelona since 1998/99. He also played in Champions League but Barca was eliminated in first knockout round from Chelsea.  

Barcelona 2005/06 (Colecciones ESTE): In 2005 he won Ballon d'Or. During season he scored two goals in El Clasico on Santiago Bernabeu. After his second goal Real fans gave him standing ovation. He said: I will never forget this because it is very rare for any footballer to be applauded in this way by the opposition fans."  This is best season in Ronaldinho's career. He was Barcelona key figure on their way to consecutive league title and first Champions League title in 14 years. Ronaldinho finished season with 26 goals in 45 matches.  

Brazil World Cup 2006 (Panini): Before 2006 World Cup Brazil won Confederations Cup with Ronaldinho in their squad. World Cup in Germany was big disappointment for Brazil. They had great offensive line with Adriano, Ronaldo, Kaka and Ronaldinho but they lost from France in quarter-final. Ronaldinho played bad on this tournament with only one assist. 

Barcelona 2006/07 (Colecciones ESTE): Ronaldinho scored lot of great goals during his career but this one is probobly his favorite because he dreamed of it since he was a young boy. It is a overhead bicycle goal against Villarreal. During season Ronaldinho scored 21 league goals but they lost title because of worse head-to-head record then Real. 

Brazil Copa America 2007 (Panini): Brazil was champion of 2007 CA played in Venezuela. Ronaldinho wasn't part of Brazil because he asked to be excused do to fatigue. 

Barcelona 2007/08 (Colecciones ESTE): Last season with Barcelona. His last campaign was full of injuries. Do to muscle tear in his right leg season ended for him at the start of April. Because of his partying lifestyle and lack of dedication to training he wasn't same player as before. In May 2008 Barcelona president Joan Laporta stated that Ronaldinho will leave the club because he need a new challenge. He played 207 matches for Catalan club scoring 94 goals.    

Milan 2008/09 (Calciatori Panini): In July 2008, Ronaldinho turned down a offer from Manchester City to join Italian giant Milan. He signed on a three years. His first goal for Rossoneri came in derby vs Inter. It was only goal on the match. 

Milan 2009/10 (Calciatori Panini): Very good season for Ronaldinho. He was one of the best Milan players and finished with most assists in Serie A. 

Brazil World Cup 2010 (Panini): Another big tournament that Ronaldinho missed. He was in good form and had big desire to participate on the tournament but Dunga didn't selected him on final squad of 23. 

Milan 2010/11 (Calciatori Panini): Last season in Europe. He played only 11 Serie A matches. Milan went to win their last Scudetto, for now. 95 matches in 3 seasons. 26 goals. 

Brazil Copa America 2011 (Panini): No Ronaldinho in Brazil squad for this tournament. In total he played 97 matches for Brazilian national team. Last in 2013. He scored 33 goals and won 3 major trophies: Copa America, World Cup and Confederations Cup. 

Flamengo 2011 (Panini Campeonato Brasileiro): After he left Milan, Ronaldinho had been linked with many clubs but he came back to Brazil. He jointed Flamengo in January 2011. With Flamengo he won Campeonato Carioca. Because of payment problems he left club. 72 matches (28 goals) in Flamengo shirt.   

Atletico Mineiro 2012 (Panini Campeonato Brasileiro): Just four days after leaving Flamengo he moved to Atletico Mineiro. Ronaldinho lead Atletico to second league place. 

Atletico Mineiro 2013 (Panini Campeonato Brasileiro): This season Ronaldinho helped Atletico to win the Campeonato Mineiro. He was also their best player in Copa Libertadores. With 4 goals and 7 assists he lead them to their first Copa Libertadores title. In the same year he was voted as best South American player in season. 85 matches, 27 goals in about 2,5 seasons.    

Queretaro 2014 Apertura (Panini BBVA LIGA Bancomer): At the beginning of the 2014 he won Recopa Sudamericana with Atl. Mineiro. He left club in July and in September signed for Mexican Queretaro. 

Queretaro 2015 Clausura (Panini BBVA LIGA Bancomer): He stayed in Queretaro for only one season playing in both Apertura and Clausura leagues. He scored 8 goals in 29 matches. 

Fluninense 2015: Last club of his career. Fluminense. In about two months with the club he played only 9 matches. After about 2 years without a club Ronaldinho confirmed his retirement.  





Ronaldinho every year in Brazil national team from his first match in 1999 to his last in 2013. 
Click on the pictures for better quality. 

Ronaldinho will always be regarded as one of the greatest and most skilful player in history of football. He is well known for his skills and creativity; due to his agility, pace and dribbling ability, as well as his use of tricks, overhead kicks, no-look passes and accuracy from free-kicks. Ronaldinho is for shure a person who made lot of people to fell in love with football. For him football wasn't just a game but a big joy and he played football with big smile on his face.

The man always has a smile on his face. Always happy to beon the pitch. Always happy to have the ball at his feet. It truly showed howmuch football meant to him. Some play for greatness, some play to win, but hejust plays because he loves to play. His romance with the game was professed by his tricks with the ball.

 „When I say goodbye to football I will cry for life, so when I die do not bury me in a cemetery or elsewhere. Make me a temple next to a football stadium and bury me with a ball because the ball is my life.“- Ronaldinho   

RONALDINHO- PRIČA MOG DJETINJSTVA

Priča je ovo o sličici, o nekim sretnijim vremenima. Bila su to lijepa vremena. Prijenos La Lige na HRT—u što danas predstavlja znanstvenu fantastiku. El Clasico. Real protiv Barcelone a na terenu samo jedan igrač Ronaldinho. Ronaldinho u prodoru, valja jednoga igrača a lopta dolazi do Etoa koji zabija za 1-0. Dinjo prima loptu na centru. U brzom trku se sjurio prema golu Ikera Casillasa. Putem je prešišao Ramosa. Ostatak Realove obrane je nemoćan te zabija za 2-0. Mala čarolija onoga što je sve mogao napraviti s loptom. Kasnije se na toj istoj utakmici dogodio jedan od najvećih trenutaka u povijesti nogometa koji se i dan danas prepričava. Ronaldinho prima loptu na polovici Reala. Kako i kod prijašnjeg pogotka se u brzom trku sjurio ka golu. Ramos je opet nemoćan. Iskosa se našao oči u oči s Casillasom i zabija za 3-0. Casillas sliježe ramenima te kao da govori: „Što želite od mene da napravim?“ Cijeli Santiago Bernabeu se ustao na noge i zapljeskao za mene najvećem nogometašu ikada.

Sjećam se i Lige Prvaka te Ronaldinhovog gola Chelsiju sa ruba šesnaesterca. Utakmice su to za pamćenje, a dvoboji Barcelone i Chelsija su uvijek pružali puno neizvjesnosti. Nisam toliko simpatizirao Barcelonu koliko samog Ronaldinha a uvijek mi je Real bio nekako draži. Ali Ronaldinho je bio jedan on onih igrača kojeg ste morali voljeti ne bitno za koji klub navijali.  

Ronaldinho je za mene osobno najbolji igrač svih vremena. Oduševljavao je svojim potezima na terenu. Možda nije trajao mnogo ali i to malo je bilo dovoljno da uđe u legendu, da bude najveći ne samo za mene već i za mnoge ljubitelje nogometa diljem svijeta.

„Crni“ album Lige Prvaka za mene je najbolji i najdraži koji sam skupljao. Izašao je za 50-tu godišnjicu tog natjecanja. U albumu se našla većina najboljih klubova tih godina. Nije bilo Reala vjerojatno zbog nekakvih licenci.

Da se vratimo na priču. Iz tog albuma za mene je posebna sličica upravo Ronaldinha, idola mog djetinjstva. Vraćajući se iz škole naletim na par kuna te mi je jedna trebala da bih kupio paketić. Užicao sam prijatelja kunu koja mi je falila te mu rekao da može uzeti jednu bilo koju sličicu. Otvaram paketić a unutra On. Jedan jedini Ronaldinho. Naravno da mu ga nisam dao. Ma nema šanse pa to mi je najdraži igrač. Kako je moj prijatelj reagirao na to više se i ne sjećam. I dan danas smo prijatelji pa se vjerojatno nije puno ljutio. Sjećam se samo da se on sutradan u školi mijenjao za tu Ronaldinhovu sličicu te da je morao dati 15-ak drugih za njega. Vrijedio je puno tada Ronaldinho.

Što se tiče tog albuma više se i ne sjećam da li samo ga (ja i brat) popunili do kraja. Znam da je falila sličica Nedveda ili je upravo ona zadnja zalijepljena. Jedino u što sam siguran je to da nam ga je mama uzela kada se jednom naljutila na brata jer nije učio. Od tada ga nisam vidio. Vjerojatno je završio u smeću.

10-ak godina kasnije (na fakultetu) sam jednom kolegi napravio neki program a umjesto novaca mi je dao taj crni album lige prvaka u kojemu je falilo 10-ak sličica a između ostalog i Ronaldinhova. Popunio sam ga do kraja i sada ga imam. Album je super ali nije to onaj moj koji sam skupljao. Album u kojem je zalijepljena ona sličica Ronaldinha. Kako god. Lijepa su to bila vremena koji se sada sa sjetom sjećamo a i sa ponekom suzom. Barem ja. Vremena koja će zauvijek ostati u našim srcima.