Ronaldo 9

[esquire8 42,452]

That season at Barca was incredible. Every goal was a peach.

 

[RangersMedia 35,961]

14 hours ago, esquire8 said:

That season at Barca was incredible. Every goal was a peach.

 

And he was still a teenager! He just utterly destroyed defences - ran straight through them with skill and power.

Folk forget Ronaldo barely kicked a ball for 3yrs between 99-02 with 2x knee tendon ruptures.

He was never the same player as the one in that video - his injuries and attitude robbed us of seeing him at his peak - but came back fat and lacking the explosiveness of old and still.... won the 2002 world cup for Brazil and WPotY.

Give Mbappe Messi's close control and dribbling ability and you have something like Ronaldo. I don't think any player has made such an impact on the game before his 21st Birthday as Ronaldo did.

[esquire8 42,452]

1 minute ago, Badger said:

And he was still a teenager!

Folk forget Ronaldo barely kicked a ball for 3yrs between 99-02 with 2x knee tendon ruptures.

He was never the same player as the one in that video - that player just ran through defences - every single week.

Give Mbappe Messi's close control and dribbling ability and you have something like Ronaldo. I don't think any player has made such an impact on the game before his 21st Birthday as Ronaldo did.

It's the finishing too. Absolutely clinical. Thats what he never lost after the injuries. Probably never see one like him ever again.

[KyleBJK 847]

The real Ronaldo

[Dennis Reynolds 1,329]

On 23/06/2020 at 22:30, Moody Blue said:

Made a quite ordinary Brazil side world champions. 

In 02?

Carlos, Cafu, Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, Gilberto Silva, Lucio it's a bit removed from an ordinary team 

[Laudrup1984 25,100]

 

[peter huistra 1,740]

Very clinical and one of those players you sit up and take notice of as soon as you see him take the ball and dribble at goal, loved watching him didn't really see much of him at Barca but watched a lot of him at Inter up until his knee injury, was amazing in fifa 98 named Calcio for some reason.

What amazes me is if you look at the stats of the great players back then like Raul , Henry , Ronaldo and then look at the stats of Messi and Ronaldo it's mind boggling how they have managed to almost double those goal returns each season in comparison. 

[left winger 14,147]

9 hours ago, Laudrup1984 said:

 

Nearly as good as Gaza’s hatrick v the sheep.

[King Jela 20,361]

Best ever. 

[mclovin9091 1,388]

It's mental to think (as others have alluded to) that he could have genuinely played for us.

[TMB 14,167]

He’s the best there’s ever been IMO.  His pace, power, dribbling, finishing, was all world class.  I watched him when he was at Barcelona and every time he hit a shot it found the net.  The guy could dribble past half a team.  I remember watching a Zidane interview and he said Ronald was the best he’s ever seen and even in training he would do something new all the time and the other players couldn’t match him.  

[Mr Soprano 13,964]

On 04/07/2020 at 15:48, McEwan's Lager said:

 

[tannerall 25,935]

Wonder if the truth about his on-off drugged up appearance at the 1998 final will ever be known. 

Could have been Ronaldo's greatest moment, instead it was a shambles. 

"A conspiracy surrounded Nike, the sportswear company who sponsored Ronaldo and the Brazilian national team, with some in Brazil believing the company had forced Ronaldo to play. The parliamentary inquiry was unable to find any wider conspiracy, although the Brazilian public remained unconvinced"

Personally I believe the Brazil medical team staff fucked him up with pre match medication. 

[McEwan's Lager 30,519]

1 hour ago, Mr Soprano said:

One game I would sell my arm to turn back the clocks for.

[esquire8 42,452]

9 hours ago, tannerall said:

Wonder if the truth about his on-off drugged up appearance at the 1998 final will ever be known. 

Could have been Ronaldo's greatest moment, instead it was a shambles. 

"A conspiracy surrounded Nike, the sportswear company who sponsored Ronaldo and the Brazilian national team, with some in Brazil believing the company had forced Ronaldo to play. The parliamentary inquiry was unable to find any wider conspiracy, although the Brazilian public remained unconvinced"

Personally I believe the Brazil medical team staff fucked him up with pre match medication. 

Didn't he have a massive panic attack then collapsed in the dressing room and they pulled him out the team. Then the medical team gave him a ton of drugs and he found himself back in the team but was clearly absolutely fucked. Brazil would've lost that final with or without him anyway.

[JamieD 18,928]

A total freak. This always makes me laugh. As Jorge Valdano said, "he's not a man, he's a herd."
 

 

[TheFamousPigeon 9,352]

2 minutes ago, JamieD said:

A total freak. This always makes me laugh. As Jorge Valdano said, "he's not a man, he's a herd."
 

 

I miss 1990's Italian football. 

[JamieD 18,928]

1 minute ago, TheFamousPigeon said:

I miss 1990's Italian football. 

That match just shows what we've lost.

Ronaldo, Baggio and Totti on the pitch, 9 goals in total, and for added comedy, Roy fucking Hodgson in the dugout.

[TheFamousPigeon 9,352]

30 minutes ago, JamieD said:

That match just shows what we've lost.

Ronaldo, Baggio and Totti on the pitch, 9 goals in total, and for added comedy, Roy fucking Hodgson in the dugout.

I drove through the Mont Blanc tunnel to Turin in the early 2000's just to watch Juventus. They had some team: Buffon, Del Piero, Thuram, Davids, Nedved...

[RangersMedia 35,961]

1 hour ago, JamieD said:

That match just shows what we've lost.

Ronaldo, Baggio and Totti on the pitch, 9 goals in total, and for added comedy, Roy fucking Hodgson in the dugout.

The 90's just seems to have more players who were box office. 

I don't know whether that is the fog of time making me think that, or it was the last era where you had some character before money, professionalism and no stone unturned levels of science and coaching really took a grip in the 00's and made football sterile and tactical. I do strongly believe football isn't as good as 20-25 years ago - and theme across many sports sadly. 

Even 20-25 years later, I could rhyme off 20-25 players I'd genuinely want to watch without even thinking. I couldn't really do that now. 

 

[JamieD 18,928]

2 minutes ago, Badger said:

The 90's just seems to have more players you wanted to watch. 

I don't know whether that is the fog of time making me think that, or it was the last era where you had some character before money, professionalism and no stone unturned levels of science and coaching really took a grip in the 00's and made football sterile and tactical. 

And you'd have to say that Ronaldo was as responsible for that as anybody, sadly. The first global superstar of the Playstation & Nike era, and who was personally treated by coaches and club doctors like some kind of Frankenstein's monster, as if his astounding gifts could be improved rather than compromised and eventually ruined in the gym and on the treatment table.