Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (born 21 March 1980 in
Porto Alegre), commonly known as
Ronaldinho (
Brazilian Portuguese: [ʁonawˈdʒĩɲu]) or
Ronaldinho Gaúcho,
[2] is a
Brazilian footballer who plays for Italian
Serie A club
Milan and the
Brazil national team. He is widely regarded as one of the most gifted footballers of his generation.
Ronaldinho,
Portuguese for "Little Ronaldo," is known in Brazil by the nickname "Gaúcho," in order to distinguish him from
Ronaldo, who was already called "Ronaldinho" in Brazil. Ronaldo simply went by his first name upon his move to Europe, thereby allowing Ronaldinho to drop the "Gaúcho" and remain simply as Ronaldinho.
Prior to his move to Milan, he played for
Paris Saint-Germain, and
FC Barcelona, with whom he won his first
Champions League in 2006. He became a Spanish citizen in January 2007.
[3]
Biography and personal life
Ronaldinho was born in the city of Porto Alegre, capital of the
Rio Grande do Sul state of Brazil. His mother, Dona Miguelina, is a former salesperson who studied to become a nurse. His father, João, was a shipyard worker and footballer for local club Esporte Clube Cruzeiro (not to be confused with
Cruzeiro EC).
[4] He suffered a fatal heart attack in the family swimming pool when Ronaldinho was eight. After Ronaldinho's older brother,
Roberto, signed with
Grêmio, the family moved to a home in the more affluent Guarujá section of Porto Alegre, which was a gift from Grêmio to convince Roberto to stay at the club. Roberto's career was ultimately cut short by injury.
Ronaldinho's football skills began to blossom at an early age, and he was first given the nickname
Ronaldinho because he was often the youngest and the smallest player in youth club matches.
[5] He developed an interest in
futsal and beach football, which later expanded to organized football. His first brush with the media came at the age of thirteen, when he scored all 23 goals in a 23-0 victory against a local team.
[6] Ronaldinho was identified as a rising star at the
1997 U-17 World Championship in
Egypt, in which he scored two goals on
penalty kicks.
[7][8]
Today, Roberto acts as Ronaldinho's manager, while his sister Deisi works as his press coordinator.
[5][9] Ronaldinho became a father for the first time on 25 February 2005, after Brazilian dancer Janaína Mendes gave birth to their son, who was named João after Ronaldinho's late father.
[10]
Club career
Early career
Ronaldinho's career began with the
Grêmio youth squad under head coach
Liam Higgins. He made his senior side debut during the 1998
Copa Libertadores.
[11] In 2001,
Arsenal expressed interest in signing Ronaldinho, but the move collapsed after he could not obtain a work permit because he was a non-
EU player who had not played enough international matches.
[12] He considered playing on loan with
Scottish Premier League side
St. Mirren, which never happened due to his involvement in a fake passport scandal in Brazil.
[13] In 2001, Ronaldinho signed a five-year contract with French side
Paris Saint-Germain in a €5.1 million transfer.
[14]
Paris Saint-Germain
Upon his arrival in
Paris, Ronaldinho was given the number 21 shirt and inserted into a lineup that included fellow
Brazilian Aloísio and
midfielders Mikel Arteta and
Jay-Jay Okocha. Ronaldinho made his league debut for the club on 4 August 2001 appearing as a substitute in a 1–1 draw with
Auxerre. Ronaldinho spent the majority of the 2001 portion of the season alternated between the bench and starter's role. He scored his first goal for the club on 13 October in a 2–2 draw against
Lyon converting the
equalizing penalty in the 79th minute after having come on 10 minutes prior. After returning from the winter break, Ronaldinho went on a tear scoring a goal in four consecutive matches to open the new campaign. He recorded impressive goals against
Monaco,
Rennes,
Lens and
Lorient. On 16 March 2002, Ronaldinho recorded a double in PSG's 3–1 victory against relegation strugglers
Troyes. He scored his final league goal of the season in the club's 2–0 win over
Metz on 27 April.
Ronaldinho was also influential in the
2001–02 edition of the Coupe de la Ligue helping Paris Saint-Germain reach the semi-finals where they were eliminated by
Bordeaux. In a Round of 16 match against
Guingamp, Ronaldinho scored two second half goals in the game after having entered the match as a half-time substitute. Despite Ronaldinho's initial success with the club, the season was marred by controversy with
Paris Saint-Germain manager
Luis Fernández claiming that the Brazilian was too focused on the Parisian
nightlife rather than football, and complained that his holidays in Brazil never ended at the scheduled times.
[11]
Despite repeated rifts with Fernández, Ronaldinho returned to the team for the
2002–03 season with the player switching to the number 10 shirt. Though his performances in his sophomore season with the club were underwhelming compared to his first, Ronaldinho performed admirably with the club. On 26 October 2002, he scored two goals in Paris Saint-Germain's 3–1 victory over
Le Classique rivals
Marseille. The first goal was a dazzling and curling
free kick, which curled past numerous Marseille players in the 18-yard box before sailing past
goalkeeper Vedran Runje. In the return match, he broke the hearts of Marseille supporters again scoring in Paris Saint-Germain's 3–0 cruising victory at the
Stade Vélodrome. Arguably Ronaldinho's most greatest performance during the season came in the
Coupe de France when he scored both goals in the club's 2–0 win over Bordeaux in the semi-finals, which inserted Paris Saint-Germain into the final. After scoring his first goal in the 22nd minute, Ronaldinho capped the game in the 81st minute by cheekily, yet accurately chipping the ball at the 18-yard box over the head of goalkeeper
Ulrich Ramé, despite Ramé being in a favorable position. For his performance, Ronaldinho was given a
standing ovation by the
Parisian supporters. Unfortunately for the club, Ronaldinho and the team failed to capture the form that got them to the final as the bowed out 2–1 to Auxerre due to a last minute goal from
Jean-Alain Boumsong. Despite Ronaldinho's performances, the club finished in disappointing 11th place position. Following the season, Ronaldinho declared he wanted to leave the club after the capital club failed to qualify for any European competition.
