O Fenômeno, Ronaldo: Bursts onto the scene

In 1992 a 16-year-old Ronaldo Luiz Nazario de Lima was playing for the Brazilian club, Cruzeiro. He scored 44 goals in 47 appearances over the next two years for the Belo Horizonte-based club which earned him a call up to the national team for the ’94 USA FIFA World Cup. Although Ronaldo did not feature during any of the games, the experience was huge for the young Brazilian. It allowed him to become familiar with international football, as well as the standards required to become a superstar. Shortly after Brazil’s clinched the Jules Rimet in Pasadena, a move to Europe beckoned for Ronaldo

Born in Rio de Janeiro on the 18th September 1976, Ronaldo grew up with a passion for football and futsal. Described as a cheeky and sometimes naughty child, it is said he was never seen without a football at his feet. Playing on the streets and at his local futsal club, he was quickly noticed by some of Brazil’s biggest clubs; he scored 44 goals in under two years in the São Cristóvão youth team which earned him a move to Cruzeiro. As he departed,his old manager made the prophetic claim that the striker who’d just left his club would lead the line for Brazilat the 1998 World Cup.

Cruzeiro signed the young Ronaldo with the intention of progressing him through their youth system, however it became instantly clear that he was more than capable of contributing at a first team level. His performances, including one in which he scored five goals, raised eyebrows as the country knew they must take notice of this rising star. In his short tenure at Cruzeiro, he helped the club win their first Copa do Brazil and a star had been born. Comparisons to Pelé were whispered amongst the masses.

His call up to the national team for the world cup followed. Whilst he didn’t get many minutes, the exposure to a team of superstars boasting names like Leonardo, Bebeto, Dunga and Romario meant he returned from the USA a more mature player, ready for his next step.

That came after the World Cup, when Ronaldo joined Dutch side PSV Eindhoven. It’s said that Romario personally advised him on the move as he himself had spent five seasons at the club. A transfer worth €4.7m was completed and it was a quick turnaround for the 17-year-old who wasted no time getting settled. With his slim frame, electric pace, exquisite dribbling, brutal upper body strength and ridiculous eye for goal, O Fenômeno burst on the scene with an incredible 54 goals in 57 appearances.

Ronaldo enjoyed two huge seasons in Holland, including a hat trick against Bayer Leverkusen in the 1994-95 UEFA Super Cup and leading PSV to both League and Cup success with an almost one goal per game ratio. It’s no surprise that Europe’s giants were already interested in the teenager.

The race to sign Ronaldo was a frantic one and ultimately it was Barcelona that were ‘first past the post’. With a world record transfer fee of €19.5m, the young man travelled to Catalonia, where large crowds waited excitedly for a glimpse of their new superstar. During his one season at Barcelona, Ronaldo was the league’s top goal scorer and helped the club win not only the Copa Del Rey, but also the Spanish Super Cup and UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup with a whopping 47 goals in 49 appearances

Both Messi and (Cristiano) Ronaldo may have made some of these records look like par for the course in recent times, but they remain absurd figures, made all the most astonishing by the fact he was only just coming out of his teens.. Just imagine; being 20 years old, the Camp Nou is your playground and you’re being managed by the late, great Sir Bobby Robson. What better foundations for success? That entire season at Barcelona was perfectly summarised by that infamous one goal against Compostela, when O Fenômeno collected the ball on the half way line, dribbled past, through and around numerous members of the opposition, utilising his pace, skill and strength to eventually slot the ball past the goalkeeper from just inside the penalty area.

That goal: https://youtu.be/cVBudXVmgR8

Sir Bobby Robson could not believe what he’d seen, as the iconic image emerged of him scratching his head in bemusement in the midst of celebrating a brilliant goal. This goal and Sir Bobby’s amazement would be the first of Ronaldo’s Nike advert features alongside the words "Imagine you asked God to be the best player in the world, and he listened to you". Ronaldo would go on to become a key feature for Nike in the football industry, helping them become a global superpower when it came to football boots and shirts. At the end of 1996, aged 20, Ronaldo became the youngest player ever to win the FIFA World Player of the Year award.

Ronaldo would only play for Barcelona for the one season. After a phenomenal year he believed he deserved to be one of the club’s top earners. Who could argue with that? Well, after intense contract negotiations, it seemed Ronaldo had earned his new contract which would keep him at the club for the long term. The then Barcelona President, Josep Lluís Núñez went as far as to announce that Ronaldo was theirs for life. However, Ronaldo recalled in a recent interview that he and his agent were contacted before the contract was signed, telling them the figures were absurd and there would be no new contract. Massimo Moratti, Inter Milan President at the time, thought he would test the water and it worked a treat. Although Ronaldo waited to see if Barcelona would pay what he was worth, it wasn’t to be and a move to I Nerazzurri materialised.Another World Record transfer fee of €27m was accepted and Ronaldo became only the second ever player - after fellow South American superstar Diego Maradona - to break the World transfer fee twice. O Fenômeno made his move to Milan to start the next chapter in his career.

“The first time I saw him play was at Cruzeiro. He was still a kid. It was in a game where he ended up scoring five goals. From that point on he showed he was truly a phenomenon.”

— Cafu

“I played with him at PSV Eindhoven. He was very young at the time, but you could already see he was going to be a world class player.”

— Jaap Stam

“He went to Holland, Spain and Italy and enhanced the reputation of Brazilian football in all three countries. He came back home and breathed new life into the Brazilian championship and Corinthians. Brazilian people should be grateful for what he’s done for our football.”

— Pele

“Never in my life have I seen an 18-year-old play in this way.”

— Rudi Voller, after Ronaldo scored a hat-trick in PSV’s 4-5 loss at Voller’s Bayer Leverkusen in the 1994-5 UEFA Cup

“The best player I have seen in my career.” — Clarence Seedorf

“For me, Ronaldo is the greatest. He was as [good as] Pele. There was nobody like him. No one has influenced both football and the players who emerged as Ronaldo.”

— Zlatan Ibrahimovic

“Ronaldo was my hero. He was the best striker I’ve ever seen. He was so fast he could score from nothing, and could shoot the ball better than anyone.”

— Lionel Messi

“Ronaldo was marvellous. He had one year with me at Barcelona, I bought him from PSV, and he was out of this world. He was a god, absolutely fantastic. He had amazing ability, was a great young athlete, a nice character, respected me and it was sad he only played eight months for us there. [ . . . ] The year he had with us you could see he was going to be phenomenal. He was so strong, would go past people, come deep to get the ball, turn and whatever you put in front of him there was a chance he could always go through you. Power and skill.”

— Sir Bobby Robson (when asked about the best signing he’d ever made)

“I once saw Ronaldo score a goal for Barcelona where he beat five or six players. As I’ve said, he was phenomenal. [ . . . ] Maradona at his best was the best I ever saw. A superb player. Ronaldo would be a close second though.”

— Sir Bobby Robson

“I played with him during his only season at Barcelona. It was in 1996-97, and for me that was the greatest year of his life. It was before the injury, and I really don’t think he has been the same player since. Back then he could beat a whole team on his own – he would go past players as if they weren’t there. I remember one goal when he took the ball from midfield and ran past eight players. It was crazy! I could not believe what I was seeing.”

— Laurent Blanc

“I’d seen him on television at PSV and thought ‘wow’. Then he came to Barcelona. He’s the most spectacular player I’ve ever seen. He did things I’d never seen before. We’re now used to seeing Messi dribble past six players, but not then. He was strong, a beast. A kid as well. He was typically Brazilian, doing the samba in the dressing room.”

— Luis Enrique

“I was in Spain when he was playing for Barcelona, and I can tell everybody that he was one of the best. He was impossible to mark, he had an acceleration that made him difficult to stop, he was scoring goals for fun, he was doing things that the rest couldn’t do. He was the special player during my time in Spain.”

— Gus Poyet

"However, if we are talking strictly about talent and skill, nobody surpasses Ronaldo [Nazario]. When he was at Barcelona with Bobby Robson, I realised that he was the best player I'd ever seen take to the field”

- Jose Mourinho, who was an interpreter at Barcelona during Ronaldo’s one year there.