In December 2005, Ronaldinho won the Ballon d’Or and was crowned the best player in the world.
Rightly. He was the game’s best player. He was also its most entertaining and loved.
And at just 25 years-old, Ronaldinho had years left ahead of him. Or should have done,
because little did anyone know that his career had already reached its apex.
Ronaldo de Assis Moreira was born in the suburbs of Porto Allegre. His older brother
Assis was a natural role model, and an attacking midfielder who would play professionally in France
and Portugal, as well as for Brazilian age-group teams and for hometown club Gremio.
And it was at Gremio, the club that he grew up supporting, that Ronaldinho’s own career
really started. He first showed his abilities on the club’s futsal courts as a seven year-old
and would spend the next fourteen years wearing their blue, black and white tricolor.
And the earliest footage of Ronaldinho – who counted Rivellino,
one of the great technical showmen in Brazilian football history, as one of his heroes – shows
that he seems always to have played with the flair and joy that would later become his trademark.
As a teenager, he would bewitch Dunga during the Rio State Championship final of 1999,
bewildering the World Cup-winning captain of 1994 with, first, an improvised flik-flak and,
second, a soon-to-be-typical juggle. It was astonishingly self-confidence.
It also brought Ronaldinho to proper national attention and he would win his first caps for
Brazil the same year, being selected as part of the 1999 squad that won the Copa America.
A move to Europe was inevitable and in 2001 it arrived, with Ronaldinho
joining Paris Saint-Germain. He would settle in France quickly, albeit with a developing trend
starting to grow. His best performances came in the biggest games. But when the
lights weren’t as bright, his concentration could waver and his form would fluctuate.
He would play just 77 games in two seasons, but some of Ronaldinho’s goals
were of the highest quality: fabulous free-kicks against Lorient and Rennes,
a seventy-yard run and finish versus Troyes, and a shimmying dance and chip against Guingamp.
But it was also a period of foreshadowing controversy.
Between his two seasons in France, Ronaldinho won the 2002 World Cup with Brazil,
scoring a very famous goal against England in the process. By the time he returned, according
to John Carlin, writing in The Guardian in 2003, he was behaving “as if PSG (were) beneath him.”
Ronaldinho’s relationship with coach Luis Fernandez deteriorated during that final season
and stories about his nightlife became more common. Even before Christmas,
coach and player had reached breaking point, with Ronaldinho declaring that he would leave the club
if Fernandez was not sacked, after an argument about his playing position. The PSG board were not
for moving – Fernandez stayed – but Ronaldinho arrived late back from the winter break and,
amid much muttering from anonymous dressing-room sources, his departure became inevitable.
And, of course, he would join Barcelona. The club was under the new presidency of Joan
Laporta and the coaching of Frank Rijkaard, but it was still reeling from two separate,
but equally turbulent spells under Louis van Gaal and less than successful transfer policy.
And yet rarely, if ever, has a debut goal described a new signing’s ability quite so
vividly. Against Sevilla at Camp Nou, in his first competitive home appearance and in a game which
kicked off after midnight, Ronaldinho carried the ball forward, drifting in-field from the left and
past two Sevilla defenders, before rifling a shot into the net off the underside of the crossbar.
It might be the best goal of his career. Whatever the truth,
it was greeted by an almost unholy noise, and proved the high point of a turbulent season
which saw Barca finish second, but at one point drop as low as 12th.
In the summer of 2004, momentum started to gather. Deco, Samuel Eto’o and Ludovic Giuly were signed,
while Rafael Marquez arrived too. Victor Valdes and Andres Iniesta were promoted from La Masia
and a young Lionel Messi would also debut. Ronaldinho’s perfect conditions were in
place for the next three years and what would prove to be the imperial stage of his career.
2004-05 would be a triumph. Barcelona would win LaLiga for the first time in the new millennium.
Ronaldinho would finish off a comprehensive 3-0 win in the first Clasico of the season
and Barcelona would lead the competition – uninterrupted- for almost the entire year. They’d
be derailed controversially in the Champions League, losing to a questionable John Terry
goal against Chelsea, but not before Ronaldinho scored one of the best – and most unique – goals
in the competition’s history, toe-poking past Petr Cech from the edge of the box.
Back in the group stage he’d also won Barcelona’s game against AC Milan with a goal of comparable
standard, driving across the box before lashing into the top-corner in the 89th minute. It was an
instant classic – the definitive Ronaldinho goal, followed by an iconic celebration.
Ronaldinho even created the first goal of Leo Messi’s career that year,
with a through-ball that was lobbed delicately home. In celebration,
Messi leaped onto Ronaldinho’s back to take the applause, creating one
of the images of the era and beginning a whole new chapter of the club’s history.
But, first, the Brazilian’s thrilling combination of technique and class would light-up 2005-06, as
Barcelona defended their league title and captured the European Cup for the first time since 1992.
He left his signature on that first Clasico of the season at the Santiago Bernabeu,
with two goals of the highest quality – probably his most famous in a Barcelona shirt.
The first a run from the halfway line and beyond a succession of helpless Madrid defenders.
The second a wicked slalom through the box which similarly flummoxed the home defence.
At full-time, just to describe how rare the air he was inhabiting had become,
he was given a standing ovation by the Bernabeu.
But, the Spanish Super Cup aside, he would never win anything again at Barcelona.
That reflected two issues: the first was that Rijkaard’s control over the dressing-room weakened
as his cycle wore on and its tension loosened. The second was that Ronaldinho was just as fond
of the Catalonian nightlight as he had been the Parisienne party scene. One charming rumour,
which was never substantiated, claimed that he would regularly play with a band
of Brazilian musicians in Barcelona, disguising himself behind a mask to protect his identity.
Barcelona finished trophyless in 2006-7 and by the time 2007-08 began, the club was in a strange
place. The previous season, Samuel Eto’o claimed that Ronaldinho attended only “eight of every 50
training sessions" and the next year began with the introduction of a new disciplinary rulebook
by president Laporta, believed to be aimed at a cabal of players including Ronaldinho. And by
the turn of the year, with criticism of the player in Johan Cruyff’s newspaper columns also
becoming increasingly common, Barcelona’s desire to be rid of their former talisman became public
and his departure was something that, ultimately, new manager Pep Guardiola would demand.
Tragically, when Ronaldinho left AC Milan in the summer of 2008,
it was with a damaged reputation – that of a part-time footballer.
His time in Italy wasn’t without success. His body shape changed and his fondness for
a good time away from the game did not, but while he wasn’t quite the same lithe
player and Milan were by no means as sleek as Barcelona had been at their peak,
his penchant for producing goals at important moments remained. His first for the club was
a header in the Milan derby, but among his 26 in two and a half years was another header at Napoli,
a double against Juventus and a peach of a free-kick against Portsmouth in the Europa League.
He left Europe for good in 2011, returning to his native Brazil to sign for Flamengo – where
he was still good for a performance. In July, he went toe-to-toe with Neymar Jr,
the young prince of Brazilian football, scoring a hat-trick in a remarkable 5-4 win.
He’d spend two years at Atletico Mineiro, by then well into his thirties, before a season-long cameo
in LigaMX. He would return to Brazilian football one more time, making seven appearances for
Fluminense but his contract was terminated early. Ronaldinho didn’t actually retire until
2018 – he even briefly played futsal in India – but when it was announced,
it brought an outpouring of affection and genuine love for a truly rare player.
And in retirement, his life has had possibly the expected contrasts. After being accused
of entering the country on a false passport, he spent time in a Paraguayan jail and nearly six
months under house arrest. He’s flirted with bankruptcy, too, but also launched
his own brands of wine and gin, and yet nothing diminishes the memory of what he was on the pitch.
“Watching Ronaldinho was fun, it made people happy” wrote Sid Lowe in the Guardian in 2018.
“Those may be two of the most simple, childish words of all but they are the right ones.”