- Name: Cristiano Ronaldo
- Born: Funchal, Portugal
- Nationality: Portugal
- Position: Winger Forward
- Date of Birth: 5/2/1985
- Height: 1.86m
- Current Club: Real Madrid
Ronaldo has the distinction of being the most expensive player in football history after moving to Real Madrid from Manchester United in June 2009. The deal was worth £80 million.
Starting with Nacional at the age of 10, Ronaldo joined Sporting CP and became the first ever to play for Sporting's U-16, U-17, U-18, B-team, and first team, all within one season. He was noticed by the Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson in the summer of 2003, when Sporting defeated United 3–1 in a match in Lisbon. Ronaldo signed for £12.24 million after the 2002–03 season and became Manchester United's first-ever Portuguese player. In November and December 2006, Ronaldo received consecutive Barclays Player of the Month honours, becoming only the third player in Premier League history to do so. He won the PFA Players' Player of the Year and PFA Young Player of the Year awards and in April, he completed the treble by winning the PFA Fans' Player of the Year.
Ronaldo is one of the most unpredictable set-piece exponents in the game. He is fast and cunning, has tantalizing footwork and the thunderous dipping, swerving shot is his trade mark.
Ronaldo scored his first hat trick for Manchester United in a 6–0 win against Newcastle United at on 12 January 2008, bringing Manchester United up to the top of the Premier League table. In 2007-08 he scored 42 goals in 49 appearances in all tournaments and this is a stupendous record.
Ronaldo did not score in his Madrid debut on 21 July in a 1-0 win over Shamrock Rovers. He scored his first goal came a week later on a penalty in Madrid's 4-2 LDU Quito. He is having a rather patchy time with Real Madrid troubled by injuries.
Ronaldo first played for Portugal in a 1-0 victory against Kazakhstan in August 2003. He was the second-highest scorer in FIFA World Cup (2006) qualification in the European zone with seven goals, and scored his first and only World Cup goal against Iran converting a penalty .
Ronaldo scored eight goals in Portugal's UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying campaign, but finished with only one goal in the tournament as Portugal were eliminated in the quarter-finals by Germany.
Currently he is the captain of the Portuguese team. Sir Alex Ferguson said about him in July 2009: “He is easily the best player in the world. He is better than Kaka and better than Messi.” |
