World Soccer Presents - Rise of Ronaldo (2022)

MANCHESTERUNITED

“There aresome
centralmidfield players,like
KakaandRonaldinho,whocan
attackfromcentralareasandarevery
goodatit. Buttheyareworld-class
playersanyway. Ronaldoisinthat
bracketnow.Herunswiththeball
atsuch incrediblespeedit is not
easyfor defenderstohandlehim.”
Initially, Ronaldowaspresentedasa
right-wingerandhecauseda sensation
withhismulti-stepovers.Ofcourse,the
carpingsoon began– he wastooselfish
onthe ball,too muchtheindividualist

RISEOFRONALDO 17

and,worstof all, wentdowntoground

fartooreadily.

But,within 18 months, United’s

coachingstaff haddevelopedgreater

useof hisleftfoot,taughthimdecisive

headingskillsandpersuadedhim

toreleasetheballto a team-mate

withgreateralacrity.

HisprogresskeptFergusonhappy.

Themanagernoted:“He is learningthe

gameoffootballnow,whentopassand

whentohold. Thewhole variety of his

gamehaschanged.All of asudden

heseems to be abletograspall the

thingswehavebeentellinghim.”

whenPortugalhostedEuro 2004 – or

theywouldhavewoninsteadoffinishing

runners-uptoGreece– buthewent

intolastyear’sWorldCupwithincreased

confidencebornof thatexperience.

Sotothecontroversialquarter-final

againstEngland,whenfirstRonaldo

waved an imaginary card at referee

HoracioElizondobefore winkingatthe

benchafterRooneywasshownred.

Thosegestureswerepickedupby

thecameras,to be shownrepeatedly

byEnglishtelevisionasPortugalmoved

ontothesemi-finalsand,ultimately,

fourthplace.AtonestageRonaldo’s

return to Englishfootballwasin doubt,

evenmoresowhen he wasnamedas

a targetofRealMadrid by oneof

theclub’s presidentialcandidates.

Forawhileheconsidered notcoming

backtoManchester.Hesays:“After the

WorldCupthingswereverydifficult

forme becauseIplayedmyclub

football in England.Suddenly,

I hadtothinka lotabout

myfuture – whichI had

notexpectedat

thatstage

inmy

career. At

anymoment I

couldhavegone,but

thenI putthatthought

outof my mind,and

nowI knowit wasthe

rightdecision.” So does

SirAlexFerguson,so do

Unitedand theirfans.

“Cristianocanbecomethe

bestplayerintheworld.

Hehaseverything”

SirAlexFerguson