RONALDO- O FENOMENO

Ronaldo Luis Nazario de Lima or simply Ronaldo is for many football fans one of the greatest player in history of football. He is one of the main reasons why some started to love football. He is considered as one of the most completed forwards of all time. It was joy to watch him play. He was an extremely powerful, fast, and technical player but also a great finisher. Ronaldo was also one of the best dribblers. He scored lot of goals beacouse of his dribbling skills. Ronaldo could pass trough several players then also a goalkeeper and made a great finish. He was not only a great goalscorer but also a very good teamate who provided lot of assists. He had a great vision, passing and crossing abilities. He was naturally right footed but he could use his both feets and play on a several offensive positions. He is much appreciated by many former footballers and coaches. During his career he played for lot of great clubs but if there wasn't lot of injuries he could achieve much more. 

-Ronaldo in his young ages

Ronaldo was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was third child of Nelio Nazario de Lima and Sonia dos Santos Barata. As many others great Brazilian footballers he also came from poor family. His parents struggled to send him to school. He was recognized as a child prodigy by his teachers. He was very good at school but at the age of 11 he had to drop out of school. His parents separated and becouse no one could take care of him he left school. At that time he played street football competitions to earn some money. Football was his only love at that time. It surely helped him to survive. Street football gave lot of experience to him. About his childhood he once siad: “In Brazil every kid starts playing street football very early. It’s in our blood. Every time I went away I was deceiving my mom. I’d tell her I was going to school but I’d be out on the street playing football. I always had a ball on my feet.” His hard work paid off becouse he was spotted by a former Brazilian legend Jairzinho. Jairzinho was at that time coach of Sao Cristovao. After some years there Jairzinho recommended him to his former club Cruzeiro. Ronaldo was only 16 years old at that time. In his first senior season with Cruziero he shown what is he able to become. He scored astonishing 44 goals in 47 matches. Becouse of his great performance at Cruzeiro, Carlos Alberto included him in Brazil squad for upcoming WC in USA. Brazil went to win that World cup but Ronaldo didn't played any minutes. Despite he didn't played any matches his name got into notes of Piet De Visser, at that time one of the best scouts. It meant that Ronaldo would continue his career with Duch giant PSV. At that time he was known under nickname Ronaldinho (little Ronaldo) becouse his older teammate in Brazil was called Ronaldo (Ronaldo Rodrigues de Jesus). He came to PSV continuing where he stopped during Cruzeiro time. He just couldn't stop scoring. In two seasons with PSV he scored amazing 54 goals in just 57 matches. In autumn of 1996, Ronaldo made his move to Spain where he signed for one of the best clubs in the world, Barcelona. Barcelona payed $19,5 milion. At that time it was a world record transfer. With Sir Bobby Robson as coach and him in attack Barcelona went to win UEFA Cup Winners Cup and Copa del Rey. Another great season for Ronaldo as he scored 47 goals in 49 matches. In 1996 he won FIFA World Player of the Year award, becoming the youngest player to win it. After just one season in Barcelona he was transfered to Inter. There was problems with the renegotiation of a new contract in which they offered him to sign it in a long term. The agreement collapsed and Barcelona accepted $27 milion offer from Inter Milan. It was again a world record transfer which makes him the second player to brake world record transfer twice. First was Maradona. In 1997 he won again FIFA World Player of the Year award but also a Ballon d'Or. In his first season with Inter he scored 34 goals and went to win UEFA Cup. In that UEFA Cup final they faced other Italian club Lazio. Ronaldo scored one goal in 3-0 win. He was also man of the match. After that final Lazio defender Alessandro Nesta said that Ronaldo is hardest attacker he ever had to face. It was impossible to stop him. In the summer of 1998 Ronaldo went to France to play in the World Cup. At that time he was best player in the world and Brazil was one of the main candidates to lift the World cup again. Brazil went to the final and Ronaldo scored 4 goals and added 3 assists. Ronald played very bad in final of 1998 WC in which Zidane lead France to an easy 3-0 win. Ronaldo was not even close to a player like he was in a seasons before. After match there were rumour that he had an ankle injury. But later new stories came out that he had been suffering from an upset stomach... At the end Brazilian team doctor revealed the truth. The night before the final Ronaldo was taken to hospital after he suffered a convulsion in his sleep. He was dropped from first team for the final match. But he managed to return several minutes before kick-off and eventually got his name in starting line-up. Ronaldo about 1998 WC final: “We lost the World Cup but I won another cup- my life.“    

His later career in Inter was full of injuries which forced him out for more then one season. In November of 1999 he suffered a knee injury in Serie A match against Lecce. He went to surgery and had to take a brake for 5 months. The Brazilian made his return in Coppa Italia final match against Lazio. He came as a substitute and stayed on the pitch for only 7 minutes becouse he again suffered a knee injury but this time more serious. Ha came back about one year later and scored 7 goals in 16 matches for Inter. It was enough to convince Luis Felipe Scolari to take him to Japan/Korea for 2002 World Cup. It was a great decision by Scolari becouse Ronaldo will turn into Brazil hero despite he missed Brazil's entire qualification campaign. Ronaldo led Brazil to their record fifth World Cup triumph where he won the Golden Shoe as top scorer with eight goals, and was runner-up to the Golden Ball as most valuable player in the tournament. Once again he was awared with Ballon d'Or. After the World Cup he moved back to Spain to sign with Real Madrid to be part of Galacticos. He scored twice in his debut game for Real and went to score in total 104 goals in 177 matches over 4,5 seasons. He won two La Liga, Intercontinental cup and Supercopa de Espana. He is famous for scoring hattrick during Champions League away match vs Manchester United which gave him standing ovation from whole Old Trafford. He was also part of Brazilian team at WC 2006. A great team with Roberto Carlos, Kaka, Adriano, Ronaldinho... They faill to make better result as they were kicked out from France in quarter-final. In January 2007 he signed for Inter's rival Milan. In his first match for Rossoneri he scored twice in 2-1 win over Livorno. He scored for both Inter and Milan in Derby della Madonnina being only one with Ibrahimović to do that. He played for four big rivals but never hated by any of their fans. During his time at Milan he also suffered a knee injury. At the end of 2007/08 season he was released by Milan. He scored 9 goals in 20 matches. Despite he had played for four big clubs in Europe he never won the biggest trophy in club football, Champions League. While he was recovering from knee injury he trained with Flamengo. Flamengo could be next club of his career but he choose Corinthians. Despite he was out for whole 2008 he managed to score 23 goals in his first season with Brazilian club. He helped them to win Campeonato Paulista and Brazilian cup. As in previous years he also had injury problems in Corinthians. He manage to score 12 goals in his second year with them. In February 2011, after Corinthians were eliminated from the Copa Libertadores, Ronaldo announced his retirement from football. In his final year of football he played only 4 matches in which he didn't scored any goal. In an emotional press conference he said that reason of his premature retirement is pain and hypothyroidism: "It's very hard to leave something that made me so happy. Mentally I wanted to continue but I have to acknowledge that I lost to my body. The head wants to go on but the body can't take any more. I think of an action but I can't do it the way I want to. It's time to go."

Today Ronaldo plays charity matches, poker... He is a member of PokerStars. 

Ronaldo career in stickers:

First club of his senior career was Cruzeiro. There was no his sticker in Cruzeiro. He played there about 1,5 year. He scored astonishing 44 goals in 47 matches. He lead them to Campeonato Mineiro and Copa do Brasil titles. 

Brazil World Cup 1994: Ronaldo debut for CBF came in 1994. He was a member of the team that won World Cup in USA 1994. Ronaldo, however, didn't played any minutes.

PSV 1994/95 (Panini Voetbal 95)

Brazil Copa America 1995 (Mundi Cromo): Ronaldo represented Brazil at CA 1995 in Uruguay. Brazil reached to the final where they lose to a host. Ronaldo didn't scored any goal. 

PSV 1995/96 (Panini Voetbal 96): In two seasons in PSV Ronaldo scored 54 goals in 57 matches. He won there Dutch Cup.

Barcelona 1996/97 (Colecciones Este 1996/97): Another great season for Ronaldo. 47 goals in 49 matches. Only one season with Catalonian club but he managed to win 3 trophies: Supercopa de Espana, Copa Del Rey and UEFA Cup Winners Cup.  

Brazil Copa America 1997 (Navarrete): With 5 goals Ronaldo lead Brazil to their 5th Copa America title. He was second top scorer with one goal less then Luis Hernandez. 

 

Barcelona 1997/98 (Colecciones Este 1997/98) and Inter 1997/98 (Calciatori Panini 1997/98): In 1997 he was transfered to Inter. His sticker was produced in both Spain and Italian albums. In his first season with Inter he scored 34 goals and won his only trophy there UEFA Cup. 

Brazil World Cup 1998 (Panini): Everything about this WC you could read before. Brazil reached final where they lost to a host nation France. 

Inter 1998/99 (Calciatori Panini 1998/99)

Brazil Copa America 1999 (Navarrete): Brazil defended the title. With 5 goals each Ronaldo and Rivaldo were top scorers. 

 

Inter 1999/00 (Calciatori Panini 2000): Ronaldo didn't played much in this season becouse he suffered two knee injuries. He missed whole next season and Panini didn't produced his sticker. 

Brazil Copa America 2001 (Navarrete): Despite he was injured for whole 2000/01 his sticker was somehow produced in 2001 CA album. 

Inter 2001/02 (Calciatori Panini)

Brazil World Cup 2002 (Panini): The best moment of his career. His second WC title but this was his World Cup. He scored twice in 2-0 final win over Germany. 

 

Real Madrid 2002/03 (Colecciones Este 2002/03): His amazing performance at 2002 WC brought him transfer to Galacticos. In his first season with Real he won Intercontinental Cup. He scored 30 goals.

Real Madrid 2003/04 (Colecciones Este 2003/04): In his second season with Madrid club he won Spain Supercup and La Liga title. He manage to score 31 goal. 

Brazil Copa America 2004 (Navarrete): Ronaldo wasn't part of Brazil squad for this Copa.

 

Real Madrid 2004/05 (Colecciones Este 2004/05)

Real Madrid 2005/06 (Colecciones Este 2005/06)

Brazil World Cup 2006 (Panini): Brazil had great team but they lost in quarter-final from France. Ronaldo scored 3 goals. This should be his lastes matches for Brazil but in 2011 Ronaldo was given one last match for Brazil. He played in a friendly match against Romania. In that match Ronaldo played 15 minutes. 

Real Madrid 2006/07 (Colecciones Este 2006/07) and Milan 2006/07 (Calciatori Panini 2006/07 aggiornamenti sticker): He started 2006/07 season with Real but under Fabio Capello he didn't get many chances. In winter he was signed by Milan. With Real he won another La Liga titles despite he was transfered. 

Milan 2007-08 (Calciatori Panini 2007-08): In his last season in Europe he played only 6 matches. He was again hitted by a knee injuries. Milan didn't extended contract with him so he went back home to Brazil. 

Corinthians (Panini): His last club of professional career was Corinthians. Despite he played there for 3 years Panini never produced his sticker in Campeonato Brasileiro official albums. In three seasons with Brazilian club he scored 35 goals in 69 matches. He won there Campeonato Paulista and Brazil cup.