7 minute read
Ronaldinho 2004
RONALDINHO
Ronaldinho rules…revitalising BarcaRonaldinho rules…revitalising Barca
2 0 0 4
Priceless prince of Barcelona
Barcelona’s brilliant Brazilian, brilliant Brazilian, Ronaldinho, is your choice asnaldinho, is your choice as 2004 World Playe04 World Pla r of the Year. r of the Year.
The award is recognition ofThe award is recognition of Ronaldinho’s pivotal role in revitalisingnaldinho’s pivotal role in revitalising Barc rcelona over the past 12 months. Hiselona over the past 12 months. His impact since joining the club from PSGimpact since joining the club from PSG in Juin July 2003 has been immense and ly 2003 has been immense and deserves to be compared to that of his deserves to be compared to that of his compatriot Ronaldo in 1996. Aftercompatriot Ronaldo in 1996. After Barc rca’s poor start to last season,s poor start to last season, Ronaldinho inspired them naldinho inspired them to qualify qualify fo for t r the Champions he Champions Le League; ague; th this is season they haveseason they have led from the front led from the front in La Liga, while their en in La Liga, while their entertainingrtaining st style of football has been carried yle of football has been carried over to the Champions League.over to the Champions League. Ronaldinho has contributed a series naldinho has contributed a series of crucial goals, including a lateof crucial goals, including a late winner against Milan.
Thier Thierry ry Henr Henry, y, an early favourite an early favourite fo for t r this year his year’s ’s award after playing a award after playing a key role in Arsenal’s record 49-gamekey role in Arsenal’s record 49-game unbeaten run, finished second. Andriy unbeaten run, finished second. Andriy Shevchenko, top scorer in Serie A last season, was third, with Deco, star of Porto’s Champions League victory and who has since joined Barcelona, fourth.
Jose Mourinho was the clear winner of the Manager award, recognition of his success in guiding unfancied Porto to Champions League glory – just a year on from their UEFA Cup triumph. Otto Rehhagel, who masterminded Greece’s shock win at Euro 2004, finished second, ahead of Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger.
English champions Arsenal ran Greece close for the Team award, but the Greeks, 100-1 outsiders at the beginning of Euro 2004, were the marginal winners after their amazing success in Portugal.
Porto were third and Barca fourth, but Ronaldinho looks set to bring back the good times to Camp Nou.
President Joan Laporta must wake up in the middle of the night sweating with fright at the thought that if he had kept his pre-election promise in the summer of 2003, he would have wound up with David Beckham – and Ronaldinho would probably be weaving his magic in Madrid.
The Brazilian joins an elite clutch of fellow countrymen who have carried off the game’s major individual awards
Priceless… Ronaldinho
down the years. Wor ld Soccer has lauded Zico, Ronaldo and Rivaldo; the European Footballer of the Year award has lighted on Rivaldo and Ronaldo since France Football changed the rules in 1995; the South Americans have worshipped Pele, Tostao, Zico, Socrates, Bebeto, Rai, Cafu and Romario; and FIFA’s World Player prize has similarly rewarded the talents of Romario, Ronaldo and Rivaldo.
In addition to individual honours, Ronaldinho also boasts the ultimate status of World Cup winner after his outstanding campaign in 2002.
Now Laporta’s senior director, Sandro Rosell, has piled on the superlatives by saying: “Ronaldinho has achieved in a remarkably short time what very few players in the world could’ve done. Our club was on its knees administratively, technically and socially when he arrived. Now we can all take pride once more in Barcelona – on and off the pitch.”
Rosell was key in bringing Ronaldinho into mainstream European club football from the confused shadows of PSG. He had been Nike’s liaison with the Brazilian federation and national team and thus gained privileged access to its stars. Persuading Ronaldinho cost nothing; signing him cost £18m, which now looks a bargain. Indeed, Rosell claims he has since rejected a £60m bid from Chelsea. “Ronaldinho is priceless,” he says.
Born on March 21, 1980, Ronaldo de Assis Moreira made his senior debut for Gremio of Porto Alegre, not in the Brazilia championship or the Rio Grande do Sul state league but, appropriately and prophetically, on the international
2001. Ronaldinho struggled, however, with both the expectations and the discipline. He repeatedly fell foul of coach Luis Fernandez, enjoying the star’s lifestyle a little too much. The more Fernandez complained, the more Ronaldinho sulked, to the point where his talent and application began to be questioned. Then came the 2002 World Cup, where Ronaldinho scored against China and the teasing free-kick versus England in the quarter-final, during which he was also sent off. At a mere 24 he now totals 27 goals in 57 caps. His World Cup success led to a perverse deterioration of his relationship with PSG. Everyone had seen that he was a class above the run of French football, and the player and his advisers soon knew it from the string of informal offers that flooded in. He says: “I learned a lot at PSG as player and person. I had some good times and some bad but, as an apprenticeship, it was important.” In the summer of 2003 the question was not whether Ronaldinho would be going but when. Manchester United were strongly tipped to sign him, so were Juventus, Inter, Real Madrid and Barcelona. The Beckham issue was a complication. At first, Laporta and Rosell were promising to bring the England captain to Barca, then Real Madrid emerged as the ultimate destination. Ronaldinho was considered “second prize” when he turned up at Camp Nou to sign for Barca. Some second prize. The first season in Spain was, for Ronaldinho, a question of finding his feet in a club badly bruised by a long-running “My mother wanted me to pay more attention to school but it wasn’t possible.
stage in the Copa Libertadores. His hero then was his elder brother, Roberto, who is now his personal manager. Ronaldinho says: “I always wanted to be a professional like him. We lived for football when I was a kid. My mother wanted me to pay more attention to school but it wasn’t possible. I even ‘dribbled’ a football between my feet when we sat down to meals.”
He first met Luiz Felipe Scolari at Gremio, recalling: “Scolari coached the first team while I was in the juniors. But when training was over with the seniors he would often come to watch us.”
A year after making his Gremio debut Ronaldinho helped Brazil win the 1999 Copa America and inspired his club’s state title win. His reputation spread throughout Brazil, then Latin America, then to Europe – and he joined PSG in political civil war. But he had no doubts about his choice: “I was a Barcelona fan as a boy because of the Brazilian players who came here. I want to do as well as they did – and better if possible.”
Possible is now verging on the probable with Barcelona running away at the top of La Liga and up among the favourites to win the Champions League.
“This club has a duty to its fans to win the Champions League,” says Ronaldinho. “We are one of the historical ‘greats’ of world football. I don’t want to be overconfident but we are something special.”
Some players dismiss personal awards as far inferior to cups and leagues but Ronaldinho sees them “as recognition of my own contribution to club and country – certainly something to be proud of”. Keir Radnedge
Top 10 Players of 2004
Player Club Country % of vote 1) Ronaldinho Barcelona Brazil 28.6 2) Thierry Henry Arsenal France 22.2 3) Andriy Shevchenko Milan Ukraine 12.6 4) Deco Por to/Barcelona Por tugal 10.2 5) Pavel Nedved Juventus Czech Republic 3.5 6) Wayne Rooney Everton/Manchester Utd England 2.6 7) Adriano Internazionale Brazil 2.2 8) Frank Lampard Chelsea England 2.0 9) Theo Zagorakis AEK Athens/Bologna Greece 1.7 10) Milan Baros Liverpool Czech Republic 1.5
Top three…iconic triumvirate of Shevchenko, Ronaldinho and Henry
Other World Soccer Award winners 2004
Underdogs…Euro 2004 winners
TEAM OF THE YEAR: Greece
