Thanks, Il Fenomeno! Ronaldo retires.

I have to admit that I was drawn to the Galactico period of Real Madrid. Why not? Ronaldo, Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane, Raul, Roberto Carlos, and David Beckham. That’s like rooting for the Avengers (or the Justice League of America if you’re a DC Comics fan).

They didn’t win a lot (four titles until Beckham’s and Carlos’ departure that ended the Galactico period) but they were fun to watch.

I wasn’t much a fan of Ronaldo because I rooted for Zizou but I never did deny his prodigious talents. How can you not root for Brazil? They played the game with a joy and flair that did justice to Pele’s term, “the beautiful game.”

When Ronaldo won his first Ballon d’Or in 1997, I remember reading about the Brazilian wunderkind in GQ magazine and how he had the world at the palm of his hand. I came away from that piece going, “wow!” Two years after that, he suffered his first major knee injury.

I was plenty impressed with him during his time in Barcelona as he scored – I think -- 47 goals in 49 matches in his first year with the club.

When he joined Real Madrid (with all those Galacticos) after a spell in Inter Milan, I jumped ship like Figo. Yes, I know that was bad, but the Avengers, you see…

The good times ended after 2003. The Galactico project was deemed a failure. Figo left for Intermila, Roberto Carlos for Fenerbahce, Becks for the LA Galaxy, and Zizou retired. Ronaldo went to AC Milan where scored only nine goals in two years. His weight problems aside, his mind clearly wandered from the game.

He lead Corinthians to the Campeonato Paulista in 2009 but this year, battling weight problems, depression, and nagging injuries, his club was eliminated from Copa Libertadores competition. And El Filomeno decided to hang it up.

Ronaldo scored 309 goals for his clubs and country since he made his debut with Cruzeiro in 1993. He is only one of two men to win FIFA’s Football Player of the Year Award three times (the other being his old teammate Zinedine Zidane). He won two World Cups in 1994 and 2002 and is the competition’s all-time leading goalscorer with 15 (piping former Bayern Munich great Gerd Muller with one more score). He is one of the sport’s all-time greats. Heck, he even made a cameo appearance in The Simpsons!

I have never been much of a Ronaldo fan but I did celebrate his triumphs with Brazil, Barcelona, and Real Madrid. With all that I have said, I guess deep down inside, I did root for Il Fenomeno. Thanks for the great football memories! 


(photo of Ronaldo in Corinthians by Guillermo Legaria of Getty Images)