Nowadays, mention the name ‘Ronaldo’ and most people will assume that you’re speaking about Cristiano Ronaldo, the former Manchester United and Real Madrid forward who was accused of rape, won five Ballon d’Ors and then took money from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as part of the country’s sportswashing operation.
Older people, though, will be more than aware of the fact that there was a different Ronaldo who set the game alight before his Portuguese namesake came along. Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima was once considered the best player in the world, but his tale is one full of so much more than just that.
Ronaldo’s Early Life
Born in the Brazilian municipality of Itaguaí on the 18th of September 1976, Ronaldo was the third child of Nélio Nazário de Lima Sr. and Sônia dos Santos Barata. His parents separated when he was 11 years old, with the player himself choosing to drop out of football not long after in order to concentrate on his football career.
He learned his skills playing street football in the Rio de Janeiro district of Bento Ribeiro, eventually joining the futsal team of Valqueire Tenis Clube before joining the Social Ramos and scoring a record 166 goals in his first season. That included 11 of 12 goals scored by the team in a single game.
Unsurprisingly, it didn’t take long before Brazilian teams began sniffing around, with former Brazilian winger Jairzinho signing him up to the São Cristóvão youth team. Working with coach Alfredo Sampaio, Ronaldo moved through the ranks of the team quickly and began playing for the Under-20s when he was just 15.
He signed with an agent in Brazil, who rejected offers from Botafogo and São Paulo before Jairzinho helped him to sign with Cruzeiro. On his youth team debut, Ronaldo scored four goals, proving to the club that the equivalent of €50,000 that they’d paid for him was likely to be worth every single penny.
Making it in Europe
Having scored 44 goals in 47 games across two seasons for Cruzeiro, which helped the club win the Copa do Brazil for the first time in 1993 and the Minas Gerais State Championship a year later, he was part of the Brazil squad that won the 1994 World Cup. Although he didn’t make an appearance, it gave him a good experience and he moved to Europe not long after the tournament was complete, signing for PSV Eindhoven after being advised to sign for the club by fellow Brazilian Romário.
He attracted the attention of both Inter Milan and Barcelona, eventually signing for the latter for a world-record fee at the time of $19.5 million.
@footballnostalgia_1 Great goals by Ronaldo Phenomenon for Barcelona #ronaldo #ronaldophenomenon #dribbles #skills #football #soccer #goals ♬ sonido original – ́
Lightning quick and happy to use his upper body strength when needed, Ronaldo looked as if he was almost faster with the ball than without it. He would become the youngest player ever to be named the FIFA World Player of the Year, moving to Inter Milan at the end of his first season after problems negotiating a new contract.
By the time his career was over, Ronaldo would also have played for both Real Madrid and AC Milan, becoming one of only a few players to play for the two rivals in both Spain and Italy. He would win countless trophies, including a World Cup in 2002, as well as pick up two Ballon d’Ors.
A Career Blighted by Injuries
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Arguably the most remarkable thing about Ronaldo is that he could have been even better and won even more if his career had not been injury hit. It was mainly whilst playing for Inter Milan that the player known as ‘Il Fenomeno’ had suffered injuries that threatened to derail his career, even having his kneecap explode just six minutes into his comeback game.
At the World Cup in France in 1998, he suffered a seizure that kept him out of the final, then in the November of the following year he ruptured a tendon in his knee. It was part of the problem with a player who boasted such an explosive burst of pace, ruining that comeback match.
Having endured a nightmare two years, Ronaldo returned to win the World Cup and prove himself to be one of the best players of all time. That was recognised in the countless personal awards that he won, including three FIFA World Player of the Year titles, but it was the manner of his redemption with Brazil that he was most loved for by the Brazilian people.
Having suffered that seizure when he took his traditional pre-match nap in 1998, he decided to forgo the routine in 2002, ensuring that he could make it on to the pitch, having scored the winning goal in the semi-final against Turkey. It worked, with his brace winning Brazil the World Cup.