Ronaldo retires; a tribute to the great man

RONALDO, Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima, the original, the one, the only, retired from football today, 34 years young.

He said simply:

“I wanted to continue, but I can’t. I think of an action, but I can’t do it the way I want to. It’s time.”

Two hundred and forty seven goals in 343 club appearances, 62 in 97 for his country, two World Cups, World Player of the Year three times, the only man ever to play for Barça and Real, Inter and AC, the World Cup’s leading goalscorer... the stats speak for themselves.

From Paris in the summer of ’98 to Yokohama four years later, he’s known the lowest lows and the highest highs, been coached by some of the greatest minds, from Bobby Robson to Fabio Capello to Carlo Ancelloti, and for Brazil, his coaches included the legendary Mario Zagallo and Big Phil.

So many great goals, so many gongs, the dribbles, the stepovers, the sheer, unadulterated skill; fat? Hardly. And always, he looked like a man who loved playing the beautiful game, always smiling, grinning goofily, never forgetting how lucky he was to have achieved all he did.

But words can’t justice to his 18-year playing career, so here’s a little something to remember his playing days by:

And so another player from USA ’94 bows out (probably the last one, albeit only a substitute), another star of France ’98 exits the field; a little part of our youth died today, but we’ll always have the memoriez...

• RonaldoHome.com: Official Ronaldo website
• January 2007: Ronaldo = no-lardo
• December 2006: Quote of the year!