Ronaldinho: Does his Legend still Stand?

Background:

Ronaldo de Assis Moreira is a former Brazilian professional footballer and is now an ambassador for the Spanish club FC Barcelona. He was born on the 21 March 1980 in Porto Alegre, Brazil. He mostly played as an attacking midfielder but was also deployed as a winger or a forward. At the tender age of eight, Ronaldo's football skills began to get color and he was given the nickname "Ronaldinho" just because he was often the youngest player in youth club matches. His first limelight moment came at the age of 13 when he scored all 23 goals in a 23–0 victory against a local team.

Achievements

As highlighted above, Ronaldinho's first taste of the limelight was when he scored 23 goals in one goal. He went on to make his debut in football in the 1998 Copa Libertadores. 1999 saw the entrance of Ronaldinho having scored 23 goals in 48 matches, and from there, his career only went higher. the start of the 1999 Copa América, on 26th June he earned his first cap for Brazil in a 3–0 win over Latvia, and he also scored one goal during Brazil's victory over Copa América campaign. 

Fast forward a few years and he went to France for Paris Saint-German (PSG) and that is when everyone started knowing the name, "Ronaldinho". Whilst showing off his talents in the french league, he caught the eye of the Barcelona club President and who sought to sign Ronaldinho to their club. FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta had entered the running for Ronaldinho and outbid Manchester United for him to join them in a €30 million deal. In the three years that he was in Barcelona, he scored 15 goals in La Liga during the 2003–04 season, helping the team finish in the runner-up spot in the league. 

In 2004 Ronaldinho was named FIFA World Player of the Year. it is arguable that the 2004-05 season was his best as he This season was the best in Ronaldinho's career as he played a huge part in Barcelona's first Champions League title in 14 years. He completed the season with 26 goals out of which seven were from the Champions League. As a result, he was chosen for the UEFA Team of the Year for the third time in a row and was also named the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year in 2005–06. Ronaldinho scored his 50th and 51st career league goal on 25 November 2006 against Villarreal, the second was an overhead bicycle kick. He scored once and assisted in three of Barcelona's 4–0 Club World Cup win over Mexico's Club América on the 14th of December. He scored two goals against Juventus on 10 January 2010.

What Went Wrong?

As Ronaldinho was being exposed to fame, his focus began to divide. It is said he would not show up for practice as required by the club. he would only show up two days before a game in order to receive the tactics for the game. In the eyes of the manager, it shows a lack of discipline as well as respect for the club and football. Although his skills were out of this world, this would not be enough to keep him at the club because he failed to follow the basic instructions for taking care of himself. with the inception of a young Lionel Messi, Pep Guardiola saw it fit to sell him whilst at his peak and this proved to be one of the best deals for Barcelona at the time.

After moving to AC Milan his career started going downhill from there. He failed to maintain a consistent form and the goals started drying up. in his defense, he was getting older but his peak did not last for as long as the other greats. At that time he continued partying more and more and this caused a stain on his legacy. This was now a shadow of who people thought was the greatest player of all time.

In the end, we could say that his Legacy is one for the ages as he mesmerized people with his ability to dribble people as if he was partying and his goal-scoring was one of a kind. He helped Barcelona win a Champions League in 2005-06 as well as winning the world cup for Brazil in 2002. in the end, it is a career every footballer dreams of as he won everything he could including a Ballon Dor. we can safely say that his legacy will be up there with one of the best.

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References: Ronaldinho Biography, Achievements, Career Info, Records & Stats - Sportskeeda