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Ronaldo Retires - R9 Appreciation Thread

Kompressor

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Davicious X
Davicious X

Be honest, you said this to start a debate.

Rsonist
Rsonist

Best player of your generation though woulda been Garrincha mate.

Guest Lens
Guest Lens

so if Messi's eligible, surely Darren Fletcher's eligible? where's he in the list? / I cosign Zidane better than Ronaldo. would like to propose that Christian Vieri was a better player than Ron

Guest FA23

Guest FA23

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Ronaldo, who confirmed his retirement from football today, will go down in history as one of the most prolific and devastatingly skilful strikers ever to have played the game. He scored with astonishing regularity for some of Europe's most glamorous clubs but it is for his exploits at the FIFA World Cup™ that he will perhaps be remembered most fondly.

From the breakthrough of 1994 to the broken records of 2006 via the despair of 1998 and the redemption of 2002, the dazzlingly gifted forward experienced the full spectrum of emotions at the sport's showpiece event.

A precocious goalscorer with Brazilian side Cruzeiro, Ronaldo Luiz Nazario de Lima was invited to the 1994 FIFA World Cup at the tender age of 17 as a non-playing member of the Brazil squad. He cheered from the sidelines as a team fired by the goals of Romario and Bebeto ended Brazil's 24-year wait for the trophy, before moving to Europe with Dutch side PSV Eindhoven.

Goalscoring Goliath

His phenomenal goalscoring record in the Netherlands, where he netted 54 goals in 57 games, alerted Barcelona, and he scored 47 goals in 49 matches in his only season at Camp Nou as the Catalans romped to the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. Elected FIFA World Player of the Year in 1996, he was on the move once more a year later when Inter Milan brought him to Italy for a world record fee.

Ronaldo won the Ballon d'Or and was named World Player of the Year again in 1997, before arriving at the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France as the most complete striker on the planet. Clad in silver boots and terrifying defenders at every turn, Ronaldo scored four goals for the defending champions as they set up a meeting with the hosts in the final.

We missed out on the joy we are feeling now at France 98, but we are living it now and it is such a pleasure for every Brazilian.

Ronaldo upon lifting the FIFA World Cup in 2002

The stage was set for Ronaldo, the pre-eminent player of his generation, to etch his name into FIFA World Cup folklore but on the eve of the game he suffered a mysterious fit and was taken out of the team. Thirty minutes before kick-off his name re-appeared on the team-sheet and to general bewilderment he took to the field, but was clearly out of sorts as Mario Zagallo's side slumped to a 3-0 defeat. "Ronaldo was scared about what lay ahead. The pressure had got to him and he couldn't stop crying," said room-mate Roberto Carlos of his pre-match crisis.

The Golden Ball for the tournament's best player was scant consolation to the 21-year-old and a year later he suffered a serious knee tendon injury that kept him out of the game for the best part of two years. Plenty of premature obituaries for Ronaldo's career were penned as he fought to overcome the first serious setback of his professional life but at the 2002 FIFA World Cup he emerged triumphant to exorcise the ghosts of Paris.

The focal point of a devastating attack that also featured Rivaldo and Ronaldinho, Ronaldo looked back to his best and scored eight times, including both goals in a 2-0 victory over Germany in the final in Yokohoma. "We missed out on the joy we are feeling now at France 98, but we are living it now and it is such a pleasure for every Brazilian," said a jubilant Ronaldo.

Triple crowned

His third World Player of the Year gong followed and in the aftermath of his FIFA World Cup redemption he joined the Galacticos of Real Madrid in another big-money move. With Real he won the 2003 Spanish title, but after initial success his injuries became a recurrent source of frustration.

As the 2006 FIFA World Cup approached he was struggling for form and looked overweight, but despite Brazil's quarter-final exit he netted three goals to become the outright top scorer in FIFA World Cup finals history with 15. He bowed out of international football with 62 goals in 97 games.

Ronaldo joined AC Milan in 2007 but suffered another serious knee injury in February 2008, prompting the end of his European odyssey and a return to Brazil with Corinthians. He had hoped to continue playing until the end of 2011 but injuries, and Corinthians' early exit from the Copa Libertadores, prompted him to call time on his incredible love affair with the global game at the age of 34.

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Guest FA23

Guest FA23

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Ronaldo Nazário, one of Brazil's most famous and successful footballers of all times, has announced formally that he is retiring from the sport after 18 years of a career marked by spectacular highs and dramatic lows.

"O Fênomeno", as he is known, is a player of superlatives. He is the highest goal scorer in the history of the World Cup - 15 in total, one more than German player Gerd Müller - and one of only two players to win the Fifa Player of the Year award three times, the other being France's Zinedine Zidane.

To many Brazilians, Ronaldo belongs to a selected pantheon of greats. While he would hardly be compared to Pelé in his home country, the 34-year-old star is still high in the list of Brazilian football geniuses, alongside Romário and Zico.

His prolific scoring history and long list of honours are in stark contrast to the bitter and humiliating tone in which his career is now drawing to an end.

His two-year spell with Brazilian club Corinthians, which started with fanfare and victory in 2009, ended in a bitter and violent row with fans and journalists that culminated in Monday's announcement.

2011 was meant to be a crowning year in Ronaldo's career. His target was to help Corinthians win the Libertadores Cup, the South American equivalent of the Champions League.

Corinthians, based in Sao Paulo, are one of Brazil's most popular clubs, with a fanatical following of over 25 million supporters. Despite the club's rich history of titles, Corinthians had never won the Libertadores.

But such high expectations soon developed into bitter rows and violence.

Earlier this month, Corinthians were eliminated by little-known Colombian club Deportes Tolima in a qualifying match for Libertadores. The 2-0 defeat was a first for any Brazilian club. Never had a team dropped out in such an early stage of the competition.

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2002 - Brazil win fifth title (available to UK users only)

Ronaldo was considered by many fans as the main culprit and suffered the worst backlash of all. In the following day, the Corinthians training ground in Sao Paulo was covered in graffiti taunting him as "O Gordo" ("The Fat One"), a reference to his weight.

A day later, 300 fans gathered outside the training ground and threw stones on the buses that were carrying Ronaldo and his team-mates.

Ronaldo took to Twitter to defend himself. He admitted his role in Corinthians' defeat, but condemned the violence. He said he had even considered retiring from football, but would not give in to "vandals and critics".

Ronaldo also responded to criticism from Neto, one of Corinthians' most popular former footballers. Currently a pundit in Brazilian TV, Neto accused Ronaldo of being a "mercenary" who was playing only for money.

Neto replied by referring on national TV to a scandal in April 2008, when Ronaldo picked up three transvestite prostitutes, who later allegedly tried to extort money from him.

Last Friday, the pressure on Corinthians' players made another victim. 2002 World Cup champion Roberto Carlos announced he was transferring to a club in Russia, citing, among other reasons, some threats his family was receiving from fans in Brazil.

On Monday, Ronaldo confirmed he would be retiring from football. He said his main reason was that his body could no longer cope with the pain from injuries, even though only a few days earlier he had said on his Twitter account that he was back in shape and ready to play again.

Only two years ago, when Ronaldo transferred to Corinthians from AC Milan, he described his involvement with the club as a love-affair.

The deal was described in Brazil as one the landmarks in the recent history of football transfers, although many critics dismissed it as unimportant - claiming that it was just a fading star looking for a dignified way to retire.

Ronaldo scored nine goals in 20 games during his spell with AC Milan in 2007/8

In 2009, he scored some key goals that led Corinthians to win two titles in the first semester of the Brazilian calendar: the Sao Paulo State championship and the Copa do Brasil, Brazil's second most important trophy.

However, later that year, during the national championship, he was injured and remained sidelined for the rest of the season.

2010 was another year of great expectations, with Corinthians aiming to win the Libertadores, but Ronaldo and his team-mates failed to beat Flamengo early in the knock-out stage.

Fans grew impatient with Ronaldo's performances during the rest of the season. Corinthians still managed to come third in the National Championship, but the star had a minor role in the campaign.

His retirement does not come as a surprise to many, having struggled for months with injuries, pain and weight problems. Still, he had a reputation of being a comeback kid.

Some pundits thought his career was over after his spectacular knee-snapping injury in 1999. Ronaldo came back in great fashion, winning the World Cup in 2002 and the Spanish La Liga twice after that, with Real Madrid.

To most Brazilian fans, the bitter circumstances of Ronaldo's farewell to football might be just a footnote of his fantastic legacy and controversial career.

Some will prefer to remember the two goals he scored against Germany in the 2002 World Cup final. Others will be tempted to dwell on the mystery surrounding the 1998 final against France, when Ronaldo initially was not on the teamsheet, before finally taking his place in the starting 11 as Brazil were defeated 3-0.

But hardly anyone will ever forget him.

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Heero Yuy Newbie

Heero Yuy

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Absolute Phenom, even when the weight was on he was still top 5 selected.

Happy to be born in the era where I could witness some of those performances live. The word legend gets over used these days but this guy epitomises the word.

Thanks for the inspiration and the sacrifices you put your body through to give us those magical moments

brazil-ronaldo-world-cup.jpg

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