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Ronaldinho 2005
RONALDINHO
Brazilian baller…Ronaldinho
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Fantasy for real
If Ronaldinho carries on as he is, we will soon be putting him among the all-time greats.
A little while back, I received an e-mail with an internet link and the simple message: “The most amazing thing ever.” The link takes you to footage that has just been used for an advert. In it, Ronaldinho ambles over to the penalty area at Camp Nou, where a man with a small metallic suitcase awaits. In the background, the Brazilian’s team-mates are training, knocking a ball about among themselves, as he opens the case and pulls out a pair of gold encrusted boots.
Ronaldinho thanks the man, laces up his new boots, flicks a football into the air and starts playing keepy-uppy. The footage is silent except for the soft sound of him gently tapping at the ball, not once allowing it to drop.
Strolling around the edge of the penalty area, tracing the white line to the middle, the ball still in the air, he volleys it towards goal. The ball strikes the bar and comes straight back to him. He controls it on his chest, swivels and volleys it goalwards. Again, it hits the bar and travels in a long, true arc straight back to him, where he controls it again and, still without letting it drop, hammers it goalwards for a third time. And, for a third time, it thuds back off the bar and sails straight back to him.
Ludicrous hat-trick completed, and completed so coolly you’d think he did it every day of the week, Ronaldinho retraces his steps back to the man with the case, still not letting the ball drop. He sits down, takes off his boots, pops them back in the case, nods his approval and smiles that smile: yeah, not bad. Not bad? It is, as the e-mail says, the most amazing thing ever.
It is also a fake, a montage. It has to be. Doesn’t it? The friend who sent it reckoned the footage was genuine, others think that it wasn’t, it couldn’t possibly be. Could it?
And that’s the point, the measure of Ronaldinho’s brilliance. That it was something you vowed to get to the bottom of rather than simply dismissing spoke volumes. The very fact that anyone could even begin to believe that such an incredible and utterly nonchalant demonstration of skill could be genuine is telling – and only with Ronaldinho would they begin to believe it.
The Brazilian has got people used to seeing things they have never seen before, skills they could never have imagined, flicks they never contemplated and can’t understand. Now it seems right. Now that they know him, would anyone dare
Football freak…one of a kind
accuse him of a fluke if he scored that goal versus England again? Of course not.
Ronaldinho has broken the rules. He is a cartoon character, a caricature even. A PlayStation player. Plain silly. It might not be pushing it to say we have never seen anything like it – a player with such skill and talent, and so effective with it. Sure, there have been tricksters – Deportivo’s incredible Brazilian Djalminha springs to mind – and players with special talents, but not like this. Ronaldinho is different; carry on as he is, add another World Cup and European Cup to his sumptuous skills, consummate his talent, and we may well be talking about an all-time great.
There may have been others who deserved Wor ld Soccer’s Player of the Year award ahead of him in terms of their impact and performance over the past year – Samuel Eto’o, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Paolo Maldini could all lay strong claims – but none match the sheer wow factor of Ronaldinho. The utter brilliance. The wonder and fun. “Ronaldinho,” Franz Beckenbauer said, “is art in its purest form.”
But there is more to it than that. Rejected by Real Madrid, the Brazilian proved the catalyst for Barca’s recovery, a leader as well as a fantasy footballer. A man with a wonderful, childlike
the passes with his back, for goodness sake. He even makes penalties look special, sending them screaming, bending into the corner before the keeper has moved. It all works, too. It is showy but not just for show. In Ronaldinho’s first season at Barca, the team defeated Madrid at the Bernabeu thanks to his awesome scooped pass to Xavi, he scored two candidates for Champions League goal of the season last term – against Milan and Chelsea – and his first-ever goal for Barcelona, against Sevilla, went thundering in off the underside of the bar after a 50-yard run. And recently there was the glorious peak, in Barcelona’s 3-0 victory at the Bernabeu, the proof that sometimes footballing genius conquers all; two goals so good that he earned a standing ovation from the Real Madrid fans. The last man to be handed that honour was a certain Diego Armando Maradona. Becoming undisputed World Player of the Year for 2005 after topping our annual poll, Ronaldinho retains the title he won 12 months ago and in doing so becomes only the third player to win the award in successive seasons, after Michel Platini and Ronaldo. He also recorded the fourth biggest share of the vote – almost 39 per cent Ronaldinho has broken the rules. He is a cartoon character, a caricature even. A PlayStation player. Plain silly. It might not be pushing it to say we have never seen
anything like it
enthusiasm for football yet the power of a gym-obsessive. As one former Madrid player put it: “He’s an amazing athlete, so strong and quick. He’d be brilliant even without the flicks and tricks.”
And yet it is the flicks, the skills, the sheer jaw-dropping madness of it all that really make Ronaldinho so different. The cow’s tail, as the Spanish call it, where he spins 360 degrees with the ball on his toe, pulling it across the turf beyond his man, not playing it. The backheels, stepovers and devastatingly quick feet. The passes without looking, – in the 24-year history of the award. He received almost three times as many votes as his closest rival, Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard. Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard finished third.
This year’s voting confirmed Spain, England and Italy as the world’s foremost leagues, with four players from La Liga, three from the Premiership and three from Serie A in the top ten.
Jose Mourinho retained the Manager award, the first time that has ever been achieved, edging out Liverpool’s Rafa Benitez after leading Chelsea to their first league title for 50 years. However, Liverpool won the Team award on the strength of their Champions League triumph. Barcelona’s Frank Rijkaard and Fabio Capello of Juventus came third and fourth respectively in the Manager list following title wins with their clubs.
There was also a new award this year. Brazilian starlet Robinho won a close race with England forward Wayne Rooney for the Young Player prize with Barcelona teenager Lionel Messi coming third. Sid Lowe
Top 10 Players of 2005
Player Club
Country % of vote 1) Ronaldinho Barcelona Brazil 38.9 2) Steven Gerrard Liverpool England 13.4 3) Frank Lampard Chelsea England 12.6 4) Adriano Internazionale Brazil 5.1 5) Andriy Shevchenko Milan Ukraine 4.6 6) Juan Roman Riquelme Villarreal Argentina 4.4 7) Thierry Henry Arsenal France 3.6 8) Kaka Milan Brazil 2.8 9) Samuel Eto’o Barcelona Cameroon 2.6 10) Deco Barcelona Por tugal 1.5
Ballon d’Or…Ronaldinho also won France Football’s top prize
Other World Soccer Award winners 2005
Champions…of Europe (Liverpool) and England (Chelsea)
TEAM OF THE YEAR: Liverpool MANAGER OF THE YEAR: Jose Mourinho, Chelsea
YOUNG PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Robinho, Real Madrid & Brazil
