The original Ronaldo story – FMP

When the name Ronaldo is mentioned these days, who’s the first person to come to mind? My bet would be Cristiano, the Portuguese maestro who’s been ripping up the world of football for the past decade. But what if I were to tell you there was another world beating player who shared the same last name?  The original Ronaldo who blasted in goals for the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid in the 90’s and who some consider to be even better than the Ronaldo that we see at Juventus today.

Born on the 18^th September 1976 in Rio de Janeiro, Ronaldo grew up around football. The city of Rio breathes the sport and it was where a young Ronaldo began to play with his friends in the streets. Soon after his parents separated when he was 11, Ronaldo dropped out of school in order to pursue his dream of becoming a professional footballer; something that nearly every child in Brazil also wanted to do. At the age of 12 he joined Social Ramos indoor futsal team and showcased just how devastating he would grow up to be. Once credited with scoring 11 of his teams 12 goals, Ronaldo led the city youth league’s goal scoring chart with 166 goals in his first season. Ronaldo has since credited futsal for being the sport that perfected his dribbling and hence made him so unstoppable. Many now knew just how good this young boy would be and so at the age of 13 Ronaldo was signed by agents Reinaldo Pitta and Alexandre Martins. A big statement for a boy who had only just become a teenager. Now playing for Sao Cristovao, Ronaldo was being coached by former Brazil international Jairzinho who instantly recognized the boy’s talent. At the age of 16, Jairzinho recommended Ronaldo to his old club Cruzeiro, and so the teenage prodigies career began.

The year was now 1993 and Ronaldo’s career at Cruzeiro began to take off. Making his professional debut against Caldense on the 25th of May, he went on to make some more appearances before finally catching the attention of national media. In one match against Bahia in November, Ronaldo scored 5 goals and showed the nation what a talent he really was. Overall Ronaldo scored an incredible 44 goals in 47 games for Cruzeiro, helping them win successive trophies in 1993 and 1994.

The next chapter in Ronaldo’s illustrious career took him to the football stronghold of Europe. Choosing to sign for PSV Eindhoven after the 1994 world cup, Ronaldo continued his rich vein of form by scoring 30 goals in his first season in dutch football. By this time even the established pros had began to take note of how good Ronaldo was becoming. After Ronaldo had scored a hattrick against Bayer Leverkusen in the 1994-95 UEFA cup, German world cup winning striker Rudi Voller stated “Never in my life have I seen an 18 year old play in this way”. Ronaldo’s second season was blighted by serious knee injuries, however it didn’t stop him doing what he did best – scoring goals. He scored 19 in 21 appearances and finished his stint in dutch football having won the top scorer award for 1995 and Dutch cup in 1996. After just two seasons he had scored 54 in 58 games.

During his time at PSV Ronaldo had been closely watched by some of the biggest clubs in the world including Barcelona and Inter Milan. Barcelona won the race for the coveted talisman, forking out a world record $19.5 million. During in his debut season in la liga in 1996-97 he scored 47 goals in 49 games and claimed the top scorers award yet again with 34 league goals – a feat that would not again be achieved until 2008. Although his time in Barcelona was limited, Ronaldo picked up many awards including the UEFA winners cup, Copa del Rey,  Supercopa de Espana and even the world player of the year. Too this day, even Barcelona legend Lionel Messi says “Ronaldo was my hero. He was the best striker I’ve ever seen”. Ultimately for Ronaldo, Barcelona turned out to be a stepping stone for bigger and better things – something few people can say. Having failed to agree a contract extension at the end of the season, Inter Milan swooped in to grab their man in 1997 for yet another world record deal of $27 million.

Ronaldo’s adaption to Italian football was seamless, picking up exactly where he left off at Barcelona. In his debut Serie A season he scored 25 goals and picked up the Serie A player of the year award. It was now that Ronaldo had began to develop into the ultimate complete forward, similar to the likes of Sergio Aguero and Karim Benzema who we see today. He could thread the ball through the eye of a needle and fire in free kicks from range whilst maintaining his natural ability to score goals inside the box. During his first season at Inter he won the world player of the year award for the second time and collected the esteemed Ballon d’Or which is today collected by the likes of Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luka Modric. In 1998 Ronaldo won the UEFA cup and was named player of the tournament for that years world cup. His mesmerizing elasticos and drag backs were straight out of a video game, and he was said to be the best striker in the world at that point – being appointed Inter’s captain by the end of the 1998-99 season. Across the city at AC Milan played Paulo Maldini who many still say is the best centreback of all time. He counts Ronaldo as one of the two best players he has ever played against, stating “Ronaldo during his first 2 years at Inter was a phenomenon”. In 1999 Ronaldo’s world came crashing down as his earlier knee injuries returned with a vengeance. During a league match he felt his knee buckle and was forced to limp off the pitch. The injury kept him out till 2000 and in his first game back it couldn’t have gone much worse. After just 6 minutes on the pitch the ligaments in his knee gave way causing him to collapse to the floor in agony. All the Inter players and Lazio players rushed to help him and the world of football showed it’s support to one of it’s greats. The injury caused him to miss the whole of the next season as he struggled with the rehab, knowing that the injuries would ultimately rob him of his explosive speed. He returned for the 2002 World Cup and helped his country claim the trophy, later becoming world player of the year for the third time. During his 5 years at Inter he had scored 59 goals in 99 games, which was incredible considering the huge setbacks he had suffered.

The next destination for Ronaldo was back in Spain at Real Madrid who had just begun their galactico era. He transferred for $46 million, but was initially kept out of the team with yet another injury. On his debut Ronaldo scored twice and received a standing ovation,  eventually finishing the season with 23 league goals. He won the Intercontinental cup in 2002 before getting his hands on La liga and the Spanish super cup in 2003. In his second season while playing against Manchester United in the Champions league, Ronaldo scored a hattrick to dump the English club out of the competition. Both sets of fans gave him a standing ovation as he was substituted, and he later recalled “For me it remains a very beautiful, a very special moment”. Madrid went on to bow out of all major competitions that season due to Ronaldo’s injuries. He did however finish as the leagues top scorer with 25 goals. From 2005-07 Ronaldo’s Madrid career took a turn for the worse. Injuries kept him out of the team and weight issues forced then manager Fabio Capello to take a tough stance with his star man. This eventually ended in Ronaldo’s exit.

In 2007 Ronaldo transferred back to Italy, this time to his ex team’s arch rivals AC Milan. After passing a medical under the close supervision of Italian doctors, Ronaldo signed a contract and was awarded the number 99 jersey. His career for Milan was short and fairly unsuccessful for his lofty standards. He did become one of only two players to score for both sides in the Milan derby, however the goals had stopped raining in as much as they used too. After his first and only season with AC Milan, Ronaldo was released and packed his bags to go back to Brazil with Corinthians. Now in the twilight of his career, Ronaldo had a few good games prompting a call for him to return to the national team. In 2011 Ronaldo called time on his amazing career and has since gone on to become a united nations goodwill ambassador and majority shareholder of a small Spanish football team.