While the self-obsessed Cristiano Ronaldo and his legions of fans would probably beg to differ, for a generation of supporters Ronaldo Luís Nazario de Lima will always be the first player that comes to mind at the mention of the name ‘Ronaldo’.
It is a travesty that the Portuguese, who is currently making headlines for all the wrong reasons as his messy divorce from Manchester United ramps up a gear, has resulted in the constant clarification of, ‘Real Ronaldo’, ‘Brazilian Ronaldo,’ or ‘Original Ronaldo’ whenever one is referring to ‘O Fenomeno’.
After all, many believe that if not for injury then the two-time World Cup and Ballon d’Or winner would have arguably dominated the modern game to the unprecedented levels his Portuguese namesake and Lionel Messi set today, long before the pair burst onto the scene.
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R9 was one of a kind and his story of redemption is well-known. Scoring goals at an alarming rate for Cruzeiro, PSV Eindhoven, Barcelona and Inter Milan, he was already one of the all-time greats when he ruptured a tendon in his knee in November 1999.
Making his comeback the following April, he played only six minutes before suffering a complete rupture of the knee-cap tendons. His physiotherapist stated 'his knee-cap actually exploded,' and called it 'the worst football injury' he had ever seen.
Yet two years later, despite barely playing in the previous three seasons, he’d return to win Brazil the World Cup in 2002 - four years after suffering a fit just hours before their 3-0 final defeat to France. After the tournament, he'd go on to star for Real Madrid for four years before his career wound down at AC Milan and Corinthians.
To achieve as much as he did despite such horrific injury woes is remarkable. With fans getting a nostalgic glint in their eye at the mere mention of the legendary forward, even now, it’s hard not to wonder, as mesmeric as Ronaldo’s career was, how much greater it could have been if the fates had been more kind.
Before the injuries, Ronaldo first moved to Europe in 1994, on the advice of compatriot Romario, when joining PSV after being an unused squad member for Brazil as they won the World Cup in the United States. There he'd play alongside the likes of Jaap Stam, Eidur Gudjohnsen and future Liverpool midfielder Bolo Zenden.
And the Dutchman, who would hang out in Ronaldo's penthouse and even bought a Portuguese For Dummies book so they could communicate better, was never in doubt that PSV had signed a very special talent.
"You could tell straight away he had a certain thing about him,” Zenden told BBC Sport . "He was lightning fast and any goalscoring opportunity, the one-on-ones, he always scored.
"There was only one way and that was towards the goal, always with pace and always with a good finish. He had tricks and could dribble anybody, but it was always clinical and lethal. You cannot give him one chance because he will score. That is his power. If you lose him out of sight, you are dead."
On the eve of his first season with PSV, a journalist would ask Ronaldo how many goals he would score in his first season in the Netherlands. “32,” was the dead-pan response. "The journalist started laughing," Zenden recalled. "But Ronaldo didn't find it funny."
Jari Litmanen, Dennis Bergkamp and Romario had won the previous six Eredivisie Golden Boots, but never scored more than 26, with the legendary Marco van Basten the last player to break the 30-goal barrier eight years earlier in 1986/87. Yet Ronaldo would win the award in his first season with 30 league goals, while a brace in domestic cup competition would see him hit his 32-goal prediction and a hat-trick in the UEFA Cup saw him finish with 35 from just 36 games in all competitions.
Still only a teenager, the Netherlands became captivated by Ronaldo as his fame sky-rocketed off the back of such goalscoring form. As a result, it was impossible for him to not be recognised.
But that didn’t stop him from trying, with Zenden once dressing up the striker as a clown when the pair paid a visit to Maastricht Carnival. Alas, the disguise did not work.
"As soon as he started smiling, everybody recognised him!" the Dutchman laughed. "He was a really nice guy, always with a smile on his face, always in for a joke."
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