While Cristiano Ronaldo may be the most famous footballer in the world today, for many there is only one true Ronaldo left: Brazil’s R9.
Today he turns 48 and there’s no better way to honor an iconic player than by reminding everyone how great he was.
By the time Ronaldo was 21, he had broken the world transfer fee record twice, first in 1996 when he moved from PSV to Barcelona, ​​and the following summer when he moved to Internazionale.
In Serie A he became known as “Il Fenomeno”, and it’s not hard to see why.
After his debut season in Italy he was at the height of his powers, but from the final of the 1998 World Cup until the following tournament four years later he was continually hit by terrible setbacks, with injuries and illnesses almost ending his career.
To mere mortals it would have been so, but Ronaldo was something we had not seen before and returned to the pinnacle of the sport, scoring eight times as Brazil won their fifth World Cup. To cap off his all-time comeback, he also won his third World Player of the Year in 2002.
It soon became clear that he would become Real Madrid’s newest Galáctico, and after the tournament in Japan and South Korea he moved to the Bernabéu.
During his time in the Spanish capital, Ronaldo scored 104 goals in just 177 games, but no performance garnered as much attention as that night at Old Trafford in April 2003.
Such was the wonder that Ronaldo was that at one point the Manchester United fans rightly cheered him on.
There has been no player like him since then, and perhaps there never will be again!
