Luis Ronaldo is a legendary professional ex-soccer player from Brazil who played as a striker. During his career (from 1993 to 2011), he played for such outstanding clubs as Cruzeiro and Corinthians (Brazil), PSV Eindhoven (Holland), Barcelona and Real Madrid (Spain), The Internationale and Milan (Italy). Between 1994 and 2011 played for the national team of Brazil, in which he became two-time world champion (1994 and 2002) and two-time winner of the America's Cup (1997 and 1999).
Biography
Luis Ronaldo was born on September 21, 1976 in the city of Bento Ribeiro (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). At the age of six, he became interested in football. It all started in the local fields, the so-called “boxes”, where almost all the boys of the district gathered and divided into teams. In 1986, the guy enters the football section, but he does not play big football, but futsal. From 1989 to 1990, he played as part of the Sosial Ramos youth club, but already in big football. The boy’s football talent was impossible not to notice, and soon he was invited to become a player at the San Cristovan Academy, in which he played until 1993.
He began his professional career at the Brazilian club Cruzeiro in 1993. The amount of the contract was about 50 thousand US dollars. The player was endowed with incredible football talent - in the debut season for “Cruzeiro” 17-year-old football player Luis Ronaldo played 21 official matches and scored 20 goals, becoming the club’s and top scorer. Naturally, this result was highlighted by the entire world football community and large European clubs began to follow the Brazilian striker.
In one of the matches of the Brazilian Serie A, against the Bahia club, Luis scored 5 goals (a penta-trick on football slang) and gave one assist. In total, he played 50 matches for Cruzeiro (including unofficial ones), in which he became the author of 45 goals and 5 assists. This is an incredible statistic for a football player who has not yet turned eighteen.
Transition to PSV Eindhoven
In 1994, the Brazilian signed a contract with the Dutch club PSV Eindhoven for 5 million pounds. In Holland, he was warmly welcomed by both the coach and the head-hungry fans. Here, the Brazilian was offered a sponsorship contract from Nike, despite the fact that he did not know Dutch at all and was a minor athlete. And with the acclimatization of the striker at first there were small problems. Nevertheless, in his debut season for the “red-white army” Ronaldo became the top scorer of the Eredivisia - in 33 matches the Brazilian scored 30 goals. In the second half of the season he was already interested in Inter Milan, with which a contract was concluded that the Italian club will have priority rights to the player in case of his transfer.
The next season was unsuccessful for Ronaldo - 13 matches and 12 goals. The fact is that Louis began to complain of pain in his knee, as a result of which doctors carried out frequent examinations and removed the player from matches. In February 1996, an operation was performed, which took 4 months to recover. Brazilian national team player Romario advised Ronaldo to a highly qualified physiotherapist who once treated him himself. Louis accepted the idea of ​​his compatriot and went to Brazil for a three-month course, leaving the PSV order. During the course, the Brazilian visited gyms and pools. As a result, he managed to return to its previous form. Returning to Eindhoven, Ronaldo was ready to hold the full match in the Holland Cup final, but head coach Dick Advocaat did not include him in the starting lineup, but only released him for several minutes in the second half. It was after this that the Brazilian decided to change the club.
One and a half season in Barcelona
After a successful appearance at the Olympics, where Luis Ronaldo was recognized as the best player, the Catalan Barcelona made a proposal about the Brazilian. At this time, PSV turned to the International with a proposal to redeem the forward for $ 20 million (under the terms of a previously concluded agreement), but were refused. As a result, Luis Ronaldo became a player in Barcelona. At the same time, Nike renegotiates a contract with him.
In the debut season for the “blue-garnet”, the player began to demonstrate all his best skills - in almost every match he scored goals, mocking the opponents' defense. At the end of the season, the Brazilian striker had 47 goals in 49 matches. We can safely say that Ronaldo became the cause of such trophies won as the Spanish Cup and the Cup Winners Cup. Here he was recognized as the top scorer of the Spanish championship (34 goals in 37 games) and received the award in the form of a “golden boot”.
Career at Italian Inter
In the summer of 1997, Luis Ronaldo signed an agreement with Milan Internationale. The amount of the transfer transaction amounted to 20 million pounds, which at that time was a record in world football. Milan fans (and not only) with great excitement met the Brazilian superstar near the club's headquarters (more than 10 thousand people). As part of the "snake" Ronaldo received a T-shirt with the 10th number. Subsequently, the club several times paid for the transfer through the sale of T-shirts with the name Ronaldo.
In one of the first matches for the new club, against “Piacenza” Ronaldo managed to get a hat-trick, after which Italian fans gave him the nickname “Phenomenon”. According to the results of the 1996/97 season, the Brazilian was awarded the Golden Ball. In the same year, he was recognized for the second time in a row as the best player according to FIFA (previously no one has received this award twice in a row). That year, the Scudetto was lost to Juventus, but the UEFA Cup was won.
The next season turned out to be less successful - the team of Luis Ronaldo took only 9th place in Serie A and did not win a single cup. The title of the best player of FIFA was also lost - the first place went to the Frenchman Zinedine Zidane, and the second to Ronaldo.
Serious injury
Soon knee problems returned. The footballer continued to play, however, in the next match against Lecce, it became clear that another operation was required, the restoration after which took 4 months. Everything turned out well, and the forward went out to play in the starting lineup against Lazio. During the match, Ronaldo collapsed on the field and grabbed his knee. Tears rolled down his face, everyone around him understood that his career was in danger. Over the next two years, the football player did not enter the field and trained according to individual programs. Over such a period of time, its popularity has subsided a bit. In Brazil, new upscale and talented footballers appeared, who competed Ronaldo for a place in the national team ahead of the 2002 World Cup.
Further career
After a successful Mundial, which ended with the victory of Brazil, Ronaldo returned to Inter, in which he spent only a few matches and moved to Real Madrid for 40 million pounds. At the same time, the “creamy” ones bought world football stars such as Luis Figo and Zinedine Zidane. As part of the “Real” were issued the best goals of Luis Ronaldo. Here he became the owner of the Intercontinental Cup, two-time winner of the Champions League and the UEFA Super Cup and the owner of the Supercop Spain. In 2002, the player again received the Golden Ball.
In the 2007/08 season, the Brazilian played as part of Milan, and from 2008 to 2011 for the Brazilian Corinthians and won two titles. In 2011, Luis Ronaldo ended his career due to frequent injuries and knee pain.