Ronaldo Luis Nazario de Lima. So much can be written about this man and his importance to modern football. In my opinion his career can be broken into two era's. The first era when he puts NIKE Soccer on the Map is before his severe knee injury that sidelines him for two years, and the second era begins after his comeback from this injury where he leads Brazil to a 5th World Cup.
Here are some 1st Era Numbers to give you a better perspective
1993 Cruzeiro: 12 goals in 14 appeareances and led team to their first Copa do Brasil
Classic Video: Ronaldo vs Boca Juniors – breaking defender’s hips
1994 Brazil - Wins World Cup with Brazil at age 17
1994-1996 PSV Eidhoven: 30 goals in 1st season and averaged nearly 1 goal per game. 1st knee injury
1996-1997 Barcelona: Wins the UEFA CUP, Copa del Rey and Supercopa de Espana.
Led team with 47 goals in 49 games in all competitions
Classic Video: Ronaldo running through entire defense from half field while players are
basically trying to tackle him American Football style.
1996 - FIFA World Player of the Year, starts to put Nike Soccer on the MAP.
1997 - 2002 Inter Milan: Signed as most expensive player in the world at the time. Won EUFA Cup.
Classic video of him breaking Lazio goal keeper’s ankles.
1997 - Wins FIFA World Player of the year for a second time.
1998 - Reaches final of FIFA World Cup, named player of the tournament.
1999 - Second knee injury
2000 -Third knee injury
2002 - Helps Brazil win 5th title, Wins World FIFA Player of the Year for the third time
and wins second World Cup
2006 - Becomes the 20th player ever to score in three different FIFA World Cups
and also breaks World Cup scoring record held by Muller of Germany for most goals ever scored at a Cup.
I could go on but after this he gets signed by Real Madrid…
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