Goodbye Ronaldo

It seems hard to believe, for me at least, that Ronaldo, il fenomeno, has retired. Maybe it’ s a sign of getting older but it does not seem that long ago that the Brazilian legend made his debut for Inter, and on it was upstaged by the then virtually unknown Alvaro Recoba who weighed in with two magnificent goals. It didn’t take long however for Ronaldo to make his mark at Inter as an outstanding 25 goals in 32 games in his debut season in Serie A showed, leaving him second behind Oliver Bierhoff in the scoring charts. 

Such an output came as no surprise whatsoever and despite his then tender age Ronaldo was,  as he has been so often described, a phenomenon, having hit a breathtaking 34 goals in 37 games for Barcelona the season before leading them to the Cup Winners Cup under Bobby Robson’s guidance.

The world was then Ronaldo’s oyster and he almost brought Inter the Scudetto, and but for that infamous match with Juventus and the penalty that was never given he may well have done. It was not a trophy-less season however as Inter went onto win the UEFA cup against Lazio in Paris by three goals to nil with Ronaldo on the mark with a sparkling effort including an array of step over’s that left Lazio keeper Luca Marchegiani rooted to the spot.

This super season led onto the World Cup where Brazil were clear favourites to win. Ronaldo lit up the tournament especially in the last sixteen match against Chile when he was on the mark twice and in the semi-final against Holland where he was on target again. The final however was for Brazil the combination of a total letdown and mystery as Ronaldo was at first left out of the squad and then re-introduced back into it after what was later found out to be a convulsive fit affecting the Inter Milan forward.

His ego may have been slightly bruised after Zidane, and not himself, stole the show in Paris that night but he reverted to his old self in Serie A again hitting 14 goals in 19 games the following season. But, from then at Inter injuries led to him featuring only seven times over the next two seasons before returning, in the 2001-2002 season, to hit 7 goals in 10 games in the World Cup year.

This time Ronaldo did steal the show in the final in Yokohoma scoring twice against Germany to give Brazil their fifth triumph in this glorious competition. However, his Italian venture was, we thought, over as Real Madrid beckoned and the galactico era had begun. Five glorious years at Real followed along with two La Liga titles, his first league titles in any league, and 117 league goals. 

But still the elusive Champions League title was absent from his collection. A move to AC Milan took place and ironically they did go onto win the Champions League that season, but Ronaldo could not share in the glory given that he had already represented Real Madrid in the competition that season and was cup tied. His time at Milan was short but he still broke records whilst representing the Diavolo. He became the first to score for both Milan and Inter in a derby, although that has since been equalled by Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

After just 22 games for Milan over two seasons a move back home to Brazil and Corinthians beckoned and that’s where he played out his final days as a footballer. Far from the melting pot that is European football Ronaldo was gone but not forgotten and that will remain the case for years, if not decades, to come. The three times FIFA Player of the year leaves the game having won over millions of fans. Goodbye, and thanks for the countless memories.