Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro,
OIH, (
Portuguese pronunciation: [kɾɨʃtiˈɐnu ʁuˈnaɫdu]; born 5 February 1985),
[2] commonly known as
Cristiano Ronaldo, is a
Portuguese footballer who plays as a
winger or
striker for Spanish
La Liga club
Real Madrid and is the captain of the
Portuguese national team. Ronaldo is the most expensive player in football history after moving from
Manchester United to Real Madrid in a
transfer deal worth £80 million (€94m, US$132m). In addition, his contract with Real Madrid, in which he is to be paid £11 million per year over the following six years, makes him the highest-paid football player in the world,
[3] and values him at €1 billion as per his buyout clause.
[4] Ronaldo began his career as a youth player for
Andorinha, where he played for two years, then moved to
Nacional. In 1997, he made a move to Portuguese giants
Sporting Clube de Portugal. Ronaldo's precocious talent caught the attention of Manchester United manager
Alex Ferguson and signed the 18-year-old for £12.24 million in 2003. The following season, Ronaldo won his first club honour, the
FA Cup and played at
Euro 2004 with Portugal. Ronaldo scored his first international goal in the opening game of the tournament against
Greece, although Greece won 2–1. Portugal reached
the final, which they again lost to Greece.
Ronaldo was the first player to win all four main
PFA and
FWA awards, doing so in 2007. In 2008, Ronaldo won the
Champions League with United, was named
best forward and
player of the tournament and was the
competition's top goalscorer as well as winning the
European Golden Shoe, becoming the first winger to do so, and topping the
Premier League Golden Boot award. He won three of the four main PFA and FWA trophies, only missing the
PFA Young Player of the Year, and was named the
FIFPro,
World Soccer and
Onze d'Or Footballer of the Year
[5][6][7] and the
FIFA World Player of the Year, in addition to becoming Manchester United's first
Ballon d'Or winner in 40 years.
[8] Ronaldo holds the distinction of being the first player to win the
FIFA Puskás Award, an honour handed by
FIFA to the best goal of the year. He scored that goal from 40 yards out against
FC Porto in a
UEFA Champions League quarter-final match, while playing for Manchester United.
[9] Three-time Ballon d'Or winner
Johan Cruyff said in an interview on 2 April 2008, "Ronaldo is better than
George Best and
Denis Law, who were two brilliant and great players in the history of United."
[10]On 15 May 2011, Ronaldo became the highest goalscorer in a season in the history of Real Madrid with 51 goals, surpassing the club's previous high of 49 by
Ferenc Puskás. He would later finish the season with a total of 53 goals, making him the first Real Madrid player to ever reach and surpass 50 goals in a season. Six days later, Ronaldo broke the record of most goals ever scored in a season in
La Liga with 40, surpassing
Telmo Zarra's mark established in 1951 and
Hugo Sanchez's mark matched in 1990. Ronaldo also broke Zarra's record of most goals per minute, with a goal scored every 70.7 minutes. The newspaper
Marca, the official deliverer of the
Pichichi Trophy (the top
La Liga goalscorer award), claimed that Ronaldo scored 41 goals. By doing so, he won the
European Golden Shoe award once again, becoming the first player to win the trophy in two different championships.
Early life
Ronaldo was born in
Santo António, a neighbourhood of
Funchal,
Madeira, the youngest child of Maria Dolores dos Santos Aveiro, a cook, and José Dinis Aveiro, a municipal gardener.
[11] His second
given name "Ronaldo" was chosen after then-
U.S. president Ronald Reagan, who was his father's favourite actor.
[12] He has one older brother, Hugo, and two older sisters, Elma and Liliana Cátia.
[2] His great-grandmother Isabel da Piedade was from
Cape Verde.
[13]Club career
Early career
At the age of eight, Ronaldo played for amateur team
Andorinha, where his father was the
kit man. In 1995, Ronaldo signed with local club
Nacional, and, after a title-winning campaign, he went on a three-day trial with
Sporting CP, who subsequently signed him for an undisclosed sum.
[14]Sporting CP
Ronaldo joined Sporting's other youth players who trained at the
Academia Sporting, the club's football academy, in
Alcochete. He became the only player ever to play for Sporting's under-16, under-17, under-18, B-team, and the first team, all within one season.
[15] He scored two goals in his league debut on 7 October 2002, which Sporting CP won 3–0 against
Moreirense, while featuring for Portugal in the
2002 European Under-17 Championship.
[16]When he was 15, Ronaldo was diagnosed with a
racing heart, a condition that might have forced him to give up playing football. The Sporting staff were made aware of the condition and Ronaldo's mother gave her authorisation for him to go into hospital. While there, he had an operation in which a laser was used to cauterise the area of his heart that was causing the problem. The surgery took place in the morning and Ronaldo was discharged from hospital by the end of the afternoon; he resumed training only a few days later.
[17]He was first spotted by then-
Liverpool manager
Gérard Houllier at the age of 16, but Liverpool declined to take him on because they decided he was too young and needed some time to develop his skills.
[18] However, he came to the attention of
Manchester United manager
Alex Ferguson in the summer of 2003, when Sporting defeated United 3–1 in the inauguration of the
Estádio José Alvalade in Lisbon. Ronaldo's performance impressed the Manchester United players, who urged Ferguson to sign him.
[19]Manchester United
2003–2006
Ronaldo with Manchester United in April 2006
Ronaldo became
Manchester United's first-ever Portuguese player when he signed for €15 million
[20] (£12.24 million) after the
2002–03 season.
[21] He requested the number 28 (his number at Sporting), as he did not want the pressure of living up to the expectation linked to the number 7 shirt, which had previously been worn by players such as
George Best,
Bryan Robson,
Eric Cantona, and
David Beckham. "After I joined, the manager asked me what number I'd like. I said 28. But Ferguson said 'No, you're going to have No. 7,' and the famous shirt was an extra source of motivation. I was forced to live up to such an honour."
[22]Ronaldo made his team debut as a 60th-minute substitute in a 4–0 home victory over
Bolton Wanderers. He scored his first goal for Manchester United with a free kick in a 3–0 win over
Portsmouth on 1 November 2003. Ronaldo ended his first season in English football by scoring the opening goal in United's 3–0
FA Cup final victory over
Millwall.
[23]2006–2009
Ronaldo with United during their 2006–2007 season.
The
2006–2007 season proved to be the breakout year for Ronaldo, as he broke the 20 goal barrier for the first time and picked up his first
league title with Manchester United.
In November and December 2006, Ronaldo received consecutive
Barclays Player of the Month honours, becoming only the third player in Premier League history to do so after
Dennis Bergkamp in 1997 and
Robbie Fowler in 1996.
[27][28] He scored his 50th Manchester United goal against city rivals
Manchester City on 5 May 2007 as United claimed their first Premier League title in four years, and he was voted into his second consecutive FIFPro Special Young Player of the Year award at the end of the year.
Despite rumours circulating in March 2007 that
Real Madrid were willing to pay an unprecedented €80 million (£54 million) for Ronaldo,
[29] he signed a five-year, £120,000-a-week (£31 million total) extension with United on 13 April, making him the highest-paid player in team history.
[30][31]Ronaldo's
2007–08 season began with a
red card for a headbutt on
Portsmouth player
Richard Hughes during United's second match of the season, for which he was punished with a three-match ban.
[33] Ronaldo said he had "learned a lot" from the experience and would not let players "provoke" him in the future.
[34] After scoring the only goal in a Champions League away match against Sporting, Ronaldo also scored the injury-time winner in the return fixture as Manchester United topped their Champions League group.
[35]Ronaldo scored his first
hat trick for Manchester United in a 6–0 win against
Newcastle United at
Old Trafford on 12 January 2008, bringing Manchester United up to the top of the Premier League table.
[38] He scored his twenty-third league goal of the season in a 2–0 win against
Reading, equalling his entire total for the 2006–07 season.
[39] During a 1–1 Champions League first knockout round draw against
Lyon on 20 February, an unidentified Lyon supporter continuously aimed a green laser at Ronaldo and United teammate
Nani, prompting an investigation by UEFA.
[40] One month later, Lyon were fined
CHF5,000 (£2,427) for the incident.
[41]On 19 March 2008, Ronaldo captained United for the first time in his career in a home win over Bolton, scoring both goals in the 2–0 victory.
[42] The second of the goals was his 33rd of the campaign, which set a new club single-season scoring record by a midfielder and thus topped George Best's forty-year-old total of 32 goals in the 1967–68 season.
[43] Ronaldo scored another brace in a 4–0 win over
Aston Villa on 29 March, which at the time gave him 35 goals in 37 domestic and European matches as both a starter and substitute. Ronaldo's scoring streak was rewarded with his becoming the first winger to win the 2007–08
European Golden Shoe, finishing eight points ahead of
Mallorca's
Dani Güiza.
[44]In the
2007–08 Champions League final on 21 May against league rivals
Chelsea, Ronaldo scored the opening goal after 26 minutes, which was negated by a Chelsea equaliser in the 45th minute as the match ended 1–1 after extra time. His misfire in the penalty shoot-out put Chelsea in position to win the trophy, but
John Terry shot wide right after slipping on the pitch surface, and Manchester United emerged victorious 6–5 on penalties. Ronaldo was named the UEFA Fans' Man of the Match,
[45] and wrapped up the campaign with a career-high 42 goals in all competitions, falling four short of
Denis Law's team-record mark of 46 in the 1963–64 season.
On 5 June 2008,
Sky Sports reported that Ronaldo had expressed an interest in moving to Real Madrid if they offered him the same amount of money the team had allegedly promised him earlier in the year.
[46] Manchester United filed a tampering complaint with
FIFA on 9 June over Madrid's alleged pursuit of Ronaldo, but FIFA declined to take any action.
[47][48] Speculation that a transfer would happen continued until 6 August, when Ronaldo confirmed that he would stay at United for at least another year.
[49]In a 5–0 win over
Stoke City on 15 November 2008, Ronaldo scored his 100th and 101st goals in all competitions for Manchester United, both from free kicks.
[52] The goals also meant that Ronaldo had now scored against each of the other 19 teams in the Premier League at the time.
[53] On 2 December, Ronaldo became Manchester United's first
Ballon d'Or recipient since
George Best in
1968. He finished with 446 points, 165 ahead of runner-up
Lionel Messi.
[54] He was awarded the Silver Ball after finishing with two goals as United won the
Club World Cup on 19 December.
[55]Ronaldo scored his first Champions League goal of the season, and first since the final against Chelsea, in a 2–0 victory over
Internazionale that sent United into the quarter-finals.
[58] In the second leg against
Porto, Ronaldo scored a 40-yard game-winning goal as United advanced to the semi-finals. He later called it the best goal he had ever scored.
[59][60] Ronaldo participated in his second consecutive
Champions League final, but made little impact in United's 2–0 loss to Barcelona. He finished with 53 appearances in all competitions, which was four higher than the previous year, but scored sixteen fewer goals (26) than his career-best total of 42 from the previous season.
On 11 June, Manchester United accepted an unconditional offer of £80 million from Real Madrid for Ronaldo after it was revealed that he again had expressed his desire to leave the club.
[61] It was confirmed by a representative of the Glazer family that the sale was fully condoned by Ferguson.
[62] When Ronaldo had eventually completed his transfer to Real, he expressed his gratitude towards Ferguson for helping him develop as a player, saying, "He's been my father in sport, one of the most important factors and most influential in my career."
[63]Real Madrid
2009–10 season
On 26 June 2009,
Real Madrid confirmed that Ronaldo would join the club on 1 July 2009 from Manchester United for £80 million,
[64] after agreeing terms and signing a six-year contract.
[65] Ronaldo's contract is worth €11 million per year
[3] and it has a €1 billion buy-out clause.
[66] He was presented to the world media as a Real Madrid player on 6 July,
[67] where he was handed the number 9 jersey.
[68] The shirt was presented to him by Madrid legend
Alfredo Di Stéfano.
[69] Ronaldo was welcomed by 80,000 fans at his presentation at the
Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, surpassing
Diego Maradona's record of 75,000 fans when he was presented in Italy, after he was transferred from
Barcelona to
Napoli in 1984.
[70]Ronaldo made his Madrid debut on 21 July in a 1–0 win over
Shamrock Rovers. His first goal came one week later with a penalty in Madrid's 4–2
LDU Quito.
[71] On 29 August, Ronaldo capped his
La Liga debut with a goal, scoring Real's second from the penalty spot in a 3–2 home win against
Deportivo La Coruña.
[72] On 15 September, Ronaldo scored two free-kicks in a 5–2 away victory over
Zürich, his first Champions League goals for Real.
[73] He broke a Madrid club record when he scored in a league match against
Villarreal and thus became the first ever player to score in his first four La Liga appearances.
[74]An ankle injury suffered on 10 October, while Ronaldo was on international duty with
Portugal against
Hungary,
[75] kept him out until 25 November, which in turn caused him to miss both of Madrid's Champions League group stage matches against
Milan. Ronaldo made his first post-injury start in a 1–0
El Clásico defeat to
Barcelona on 29 November. On 6 December, he was sent off for the first time in his Madrid career in Madrid's 4–2 victory against
Almería, a match which also saw him miss a penalty. He was carded first for removing his shirt during a goal celebration, then for kicking out at an opponent three minutes later.
[76] Ronaldo and
Gonzalo Higuaín scored 53 league goals during the course of the season and became Real's highest scoring league duo in their history.
[77]2010–11 season
With the departure of
Raúl during the summer of 2010, Ronaldo was handed the No. 7 jersey for Real Madrid.
[78] On 23 October 2010, Ronaldo scored four goals against
Racing de Santander,
[79] the most goals he has ever scored in a single match.
[80] This completed a goalscoring run of six consecutive matches (three in La Liga, one in the Champions League, and two for
Portugal) in which Ronaldo scored in each match, totalling 11 goals, which is the most Ronaldo has scored in a single month. Before Real Madrid's 5–0 defeat by Barcelona at the Camp Nou, Ronaldo scored his second La Liga hat-trick of the season in a 5–1 win over
Athletic Bilbao.
[81] His final match of the calendar year saw him score a hat-trick in a 8–0 trashing of
Levante in the
Copa del Rey.
[82]Ronaldo began the 2011 with a very promising outlook, especially after Real Madrid acknowledged he had broken numerous goalscoring records, previously settled and held by classic players such as
Alfredo Di Stéfano,
Hugo Sánchez, and
Manuel Alday.
[83][84] Ronaldo began his scoring spree by scoring two vital goals in a tight 3–2 victory away to
Getafe.
[85] He then consolidated his massive performances by scoring a hat-trick and assisting
Kaká to score his first league goal after his return from injury, in a 4–2 victory over
Villareal on 9 January. One game away from the middle of the season, Ronaldo had a very clear chance of breaking
Telmo Zarra's and
Hugo Sánchez's record of 38 League goals in a single season, since he was the league's top scorer with 22 goals, above
Lionel Messi.
[86][87] However, shortly after, Ronaldo experienced the biggest goal drought in his entire career, scoring only 2 goals in more than a month. During this period, Real Madrid acknowledged to have hit the crossbar more than 12 times in the season, most of the shots belonging to Ronaldo and almost all having happened during crucial moments in drawn matches.
[88] Ronaldo then made a massive comeback by scoring a hat-trick in a 7–0 trashing of
Málaga on 3 March 2011, but was affected by a muscle injury at the end of the match, which forced him to spend 10 days on the sidelines.
In April he made another massive comeback from injury, sustaining a three-game scoring streak (including 2 goals in
Champions League quarter-finals against
Tottenham Hotspur), thus arriving to the first of a historical series of four
El Clásico encounters two goals short of breaking his personal record of 42 goals in all competitions in a single season, achieved at
Manchester United in the 2007–08 season.
During the second league edition of El Clásico, Ronaldo scored from the penalty spot and took his tally to 41 goals, also taking his scoring streak to four games. On 20 April, Ronaldo scored the winning goal against
Barcelona in the 103rd minute of the
Copa del Rey final.
[89] This goal would later be chosen as both Ronaldo's and Real Madrid's best goal in the season by several fan polls, including those of Marca
[90] and Real Madrid's website.
[91] 7 May saw Real travel to the
Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán to take on Sevilla, where Ronaldo led the thrashing of a woeful Andalusian side, scoring four goals in a 6–2 victory. These four goals took him to 46 for the season which surpassed his previous record of 42 in a season playing for Manchester United.
[92] Three days later he reached 49 goals for the season, by scoring another hat-trick in a 4–0 home win against
Getafe. On 15 May, after scoring 2 free-kick goals in a 3–1 win over
Villarreal, he equalled the
La Liga record with most goals in a season with 38, a record previously held by
Telmo Zarra and
Hugo Sánchez.
On 21 May, he scored two goals in the last league match of the season against Almería, taking his Pichichi total to 41, and La Liga total to 40, becoming the first and only player to score 40 or more goals in a La Liga season. By doing this, he won the
European Golden Shoe award once again, becoming the first player to win the trophy in two different leagues. The sports newspaper
Marca, who awards the Pichichi Trophy, included the goal scored on 18 September 2010 to Real Sociedad in Ronaldo's goal count, which some sources attribute to
Pepe while others attribute to Ronaldo. Should this goal be granted to Ronaldo, his goal count in the Pichichi Trophy would tally 41 goals. However, careless of this goal polemic, Ronaldo's record-breaking figures became a source of major attention from public media, something that granted Ronaldo awards like Sports Illustrated XI,
[93] rating him as one of the world's best footballers.
2011–12 season
Real Madrid's pre-season began with a 4–1 victory over
MLS team Los Angeles Galaxy,
[94] with goals from
Callejón, Joselu, Ronaldo, and Benzema.
[95] Four days later Ronaldo scored a second half
hat-trick in a 3–0 win against Guadalajara.
International career
Ronaldo playing against
Brazil Ronaldo earned his first cap for Portugal in a 1–0 victory against
Kazakhstan on 20 August 2003.
[96]Euro 2004
2006 World Cup
During a
quarter-final match against
England on 1 July 2006, Ronaldo's United teammate
Wayne Rooney was
sent off for stamping on Portugal defender
Ricardo Carvalho. The English media speculated that Ronaldo had influenced referee
Horacio Elizondo's decision by aggressively complaining, after which he was seen in replays winking at the Portuguese bench following Rooney's dismissal. After the match, Ronaldo insisted that Rooney was a friend and that he was not pushing for Rooney to be sent off.
[104] On 4 July, Elizondo clarified that the red card was due to Rooney's infraction and not the fracas between Rooney and Ronaldo that followed.
[105]The angry reaction from the English press caused Ronaldo to consider leaving United,
[106] and he allegedly told Spanish sports daily
Marca that he wished to move to
Real Madrid.
[107] In response to the speculation, Ferguson sent Portuguese assistant manager
Carlos Queiroz to speak to Ronaldo in attempt to change his mind, a sentiment that was shared by Rooney.
[108][109] Ronaldo stayed, and signed his new five-year extension in April 2007.
[110]Ronaldo was booed during Portugal's semi-final defeat to
France,
[111] and missed out on the competition's Best Young Player award due to a negative e-mail campaign from England fans.
[112] Though the online vote only affected the nomination process, FIFA's Technical Study Group awarded the honour to
Germany's
Lukas Podolski, citing Ronaldo's behaviour as a factor in the decision.
[113]Post-World Cup
One day after his 22nd birthday, Ronaldo captained Portugal for the first time in a friendly against
Brazil on 6 February 2007.
[114] This move was in honour of
Portuguese Football Federation president Carlos Silva, who had died two days earlier. Portugal coach
Luiz Felipe Scolari explained, "Mr. Silva asked me to make [Ronaldo] captain as a gesture... [he] is too young to be captain, but Mr. Silva asked me, and now he is no longer with us."
[115]Euro 2008
2010 World Cup
On 15 June 2010, in Portugal's opening
World Cup match against
Côte d'Ivoire, Ronaldo was tackled by right-back Guy Demel, which led to an argument and both being booked. The next day, Portugal contacted FIFA to suggest that Ronaldo's yellow card be rescinded since he was "pulled into" the confrontation after having already moved away from the spot where he was tackled, but the appeal was rejected.
[120]Ronaldo failed to make an impact in the World Cup; after going scoreless in the qualifiers, his only goal came in Portugal's 7–0 group stage thrashing of
North Korea on 21 June,
[121] which marked his first international goal in 16 months.
[122] Portugal were ultimately eliminated by
Spain in the Round of 16.