Rivaldo is one of many players to sit in the pantheon of Brazilian greats.
The versatile forward, who turns 50 today, was one of the stars of a period packed full of them. Playing alongside Ronaldo and Ronaldinho in one of the most exciting front lines of all time, he helped Brazil win the 2002 World Cup.
He played in a legendary Barcelona side, helping to win two La Liga titles and the Copa del Rey, won the Champions League with AC Milan – despite playing a bit-part role – before going on to lead a nomadic and fascinating existence in the latter years of his career.
In an era of true Brazil greats, Rivaldo still manages to stand out. His storied professional career is packed full of wonder-goals, incident and intrigue. To celebrate his half-century, here are some of his best moments.
Van Gaal spat
Rivaldo scored 130 goals and registered 44 assists in 235 games for Barcelona between 1997 and 2002. He gave Barca fans some of the finest memories – and yet his time with the club ended in ignominy.
He did not get on well with Louis van Gaal and was happy to see the Dutchman sacked by Barcelona in June 2000, having been played out of position on the left wing. Unfortunately for him, Van Gaal was back in Catalonia in 2002. One of his first actions was to get rid of Rivaldo, allowing him to join Milan on a free transfer.
"I love Barcelona because I played there for five seasons, and I'm very sad when I see a club of their stature and with their fans in the lower part of the league table," Rivaldo said after joining Milan after winning the World Cup. "But van Gaal is in the situation he deserves, because in life and not only football, you must always try to be a good person. You cannot lie and try to harm other people. What goes around comes around. About me for example he said that I was unprofessional and would not give everything for the club."
It’s fair to say the feeling was mutual. "He lacked commitment to the club, he was only interested in making more money and playing less," Van Gaal shot back. He was chosen as the best player in 1999, but he has not handled himself well since then and has not behaved like a footballer should.
"He had illusions about Barca and was requesting to take holidays when important Champions League games were approaching. He then hides back home in Brazil. He plays for Brazil like we needed him to at Barcelona, and he has proved this in the World Cup finals, showing he reserved himself for Japan."
Bolton flirtation
Things did not work for Rivaldo in Milan, despite winning the Champions League and Coppa Italia in the 2002/03 season. He later described his time under Carlo Ancelotti in Italy as “humiliating” and moved back to Brazil to play for Cruzeiro. But after falling out of favour with the national team, he needed to move back to Europe to play in a more high-profile league.
Amazingly, Bolton Wanderers emerged as favourites for the World Cup-winner’s signature. With Youri Djorkaeff, Ivan Campo and Jay-Jay Okocha already on the books, Sam Allardyce was confident about landing another star. "We have taken in all kinds of waifs and strays, people who were out of shape and out of sorts and we've turned them into proper players again," he told Sky Sports.
"Sometimes it just comes down to putting an arm around a player and making him feel wanted again. Football can be a lonely environment when you are on a downer. Even the best players can feel lost when things turn against them which I think is what has happened in Rivaldo's case."
However, after much toing and froing, lots of confusion about who actually represented Rivaldo and rival bids, the proposed move fell apart. "We were told he wanted to resume his international career by playing in the Premiership,” Bolton chairman Phil Gartside said. “But that doesn't appear to be his main focus. He is not going to get that kind of exposure if he goes to Qatar."
In the end he went to Greece to join Olympiacos, where he stayed between 2004 and 2007. But Rivaldo later admitted he would have liked to have played under Allardyce at Bolton.
“Four years ago I met the manager and the chairman but in the end we could not reach an agreement, which meant I didn’t sign for Bolton,” he said. “I cannot say why it didn’t happen. It is a great shame. The Premier League is a very strong league and I would like to have played in England for Bolton. When I am not playing here in Greece I watch a few games. The Premier League is a good competition and it's great to watch.”
Diving controversy
Rivaldo scored five goals for Brazil during their triumphant 2002 World Cup campaign, but he also did something else to make headlines during a group game with Turkey.
After taking an age to restart play with a corner, Rivaldo had the ball blasted at him by a frustrated Hakan Unsal. The ball hit Rivaldo’s shin, but he decided to make the most of the opportunity by going down clutching his face. It had the desired effect, with Unsal sent off in a game which Brazil went on to win 2-1.
On the negative side, Rivaldo later received a £5,180 fine from FIFA and stained his reputation with a disgraceful dive. On the upside, three weeks later he lifted the World Cup in Yokohama.
Fergie snub
Bolton were not the only Premier League side to consider a move for Rivaldo. Many years earlier, Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson had looked into the prospect of signing the Brazilian forward from Barcelona, only to reject the idea due to the costs involved.
Speaking years later, amid the ongoing spat between the forward and his former Barcelona boss Van Gaal, Ferguson was less than complimentary of Rivaldo. "Nothing in truth surprised me when Barcelona terminated Rivaldo's contract," Ferguson said. "I share the decision of Van Gaal totally. How old is Rivaldo? He is not young.
"All coaches analyse his necessities and now van Gaal must desire a less individualistic player, and he thinks more about the team. Rivaldo continues being a fantastic player. I wanted him seasons ago and we tried to sign him, but we agreed ourselves neither with Barcelona for the price of his transfer, nor with the player over his wages."
Far-flung adventures
Rivaldo played at the very top of the game, both internationally and domestically, but the final years of his career made fascinating reading. After four years playing in Greece, for Olympiacos and AEK Athens, rather than call it a day, a 36-year-old Rivaldo decided to head for the shock destination of Uzbekistan in 2008, largely because Bunyodkor were offering to pay him £8million for two years of work.
“It was a difficult decision to make but I have received an offer that is very good for my career,” Rivaldo said. “It’s just that things happened fast and I had to go. Anyone else in my position would not have said no to such a deal.”
There was one small problem: he was still under contract with AEK Athens, who understandably weren’t best pleased. Bunyodkor – a club only established in 2005 through oil money – were forced to stump up another £1m to buy him out of his contract and there began his adventure in central Asia.
Rivaldo joined mid-season and immediately started scoring goals. He bagged 20 goals in 29 games in his second and only full season in Tashkent and even extended his contract in order to “contribute to the development of football in Uzbekistan”. That noble ideal never happened, however, with Rivaldo departing unexpectedly midway through the 2010 season. “By the time he left, he had only been paid for one season,” Rivaldo’s lawyer Luis Pereira later explained. “The contract has not been honoured.”
Undeterred, after a loan spell back in Brazil with Sao Paulo, Rivaldo headed to another football hotbed: Angola. He signed for Kabuscorp in January 2012. "This is going to be a new experience for me,” the 39-year-old said upon arrival. “I am happy to be there and as happens with all the clubs I join, I will try to honour the shirt of Kabuscorp and hope to meet expectations on the field."
He stayed in Luanda for the best part of a year, scoring 11 goals in 21 league games as Kabuscorp came fourth in the Angolan top flight. Nevertheless he described the experience as “a positive year in my career”. Now 40, he still wouldn’t retire and returned to Brazil to continue for a few more years.
