Cristiano Ronaldo
Date of birth: 5 February 1985 (age 27)
Place of birth: Funchal, Madeira, Portugal
Height: 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position: Forward.
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, OIH, (born 5
February 1985), 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. Cristiano Ronaldo became the most
expensive footballer in history after moving from Manchester United to Real
Madrid in a transfer worth £80 million (€93.9 million/$131.6 million). In
addition, his contract with Real Madrid, in which he is paid €12 million per
year, makes him one of the highest-paid footballers in the world, and his
buyout clause is valued at €1 billion as per his contract.
Cristiano Ronaldo began his career as a youth
player for Andorinha, where he played for two years, before moving to C.D.
Nacional. In 1997, he made a move to Portuguese giants Sporting Clube de
Portugal. Cristiano Ronaldo's precocious talent caught the attention of
Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, who signed him for £12.24 million (€15
million) in 2003. The following season, Cristiano Ronaldo won his first club
honour, the FA Cup. He also played at Euro 2004 with Portugal and scored his
first international goal in the opening game of the tournament against Greece,
in addition to helping Portugal reach the final. He was featured in the UEFA
Euro All-Star Team of this competition.
League
at the time. On 2 December, Cristiano 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. He was awarded the Silver Ball after
finishing with two goals as United won the Club World Cup on 19 December.
On
8 January 2009, Cristiano Ronaldo was uninjured in a single-car accident in
which he wrote off his Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano in a tunnel along the A538 near
Manchester Airport. A breathalyser test he gave to police officers at the scene
was negative, and he attended training later that morning. Four days later, he
became the first Premier League player ever to be named the FIFA World Player
of the Year, in addition to being the first Portuguese player to win the award
since Luís Figo in 2001.
Cristiano
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. In the second leg against Porto, Cristiano
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. Cristiano
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 Cristiano Ronaldo after it was revealed that he again had
expressed his desire to leave the club. It was confirmed by a representative of
the Glazer family that the sale was fully condoned by Ferguson. When Cristiano
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."
Real Madrid
2009–10
seasons
On
26 June 2009, Real Madrid confirmed that Cristiano Ronaldo would join the club
on 1 July 2009 from Manchester United for £80 million (€93.9 million/$131.6
million), after agreeing terms and signing a six-year contract. Cristiano
Ronaldo's contract is worth €11 million per year and it has a €1 billion
buy-out clause. He was presented to the world media as a Real Madrid player on
6 July, where he was handed the number 9 jersey. The shirt was presented to him
by Madrid legend Alfredo Di Stéfano. Cristiano 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.
Cristiano
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 win over LDU
Quito. On 29 August, Cristiano 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. On 15 September, Cristiano Ronaldo scored two free-kicks in a 5–2
away victory over Zürich, his first Champions League goals for Real. 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.
An
ankle injury suffered on 10 October, while Cristiano Ronaldo was on
international duty with Portugal against Hungary, kept him out until 25
November, which in turn caused him to miss both of Madrid's Champions’ League
group stage matches against Milan. Cristiano 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. On 5 May 2010 Cristiano Ronaldo scored his first
Real Madrid hat-trick in an away game against Mallorca. Cristiano 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.
2010–11
seasons
With
the departure of Raúl during the summer of 2010, Cristiano Ronaldo was handed
the No. 7 jersey for Real Madrid. On 23 October 2010, Cristiano Ronaldo scored
four goals against Racing de Santander, the most goals he has ever scored in a
single match. This completed a goalscoring run of six consecutive matches
(three in La Liga, one in the Champions League, and two for Portugal) in which Cristiano
Ronaldo scored in each match, totalling 11 goals, which is the most Cristiano
Ronaldo has scored in a single month. Before Real Madrid's 5–0 defeat by
Barcelona at the Camp Nou, Cristiano Ronaldo scored his second La Liga
hat-trick of the season in a 5–1 win over Athletic Bilbao. His final match of
the calendar year saw him score a hat-trick in an 8–0 thrashing of Levante in the
Copa Del Rey.
Cristiano
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. Cristiano Ronaldo began his scoring spree by scoring two
vital goals in a tight 3–2 victory away to Getafe. 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
Villarreal on 9 January. One game away from the middle of the season, Cristiano
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. However, shortly after, Cristiano
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 Cristiano Ronaldo and almost all having happened during crucial
moments in drawn matches. Cristiano Ronaldo then made a massive comeback by
scoring a hat-trick in a 7–0 thrashing 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, Cristiano Ronaldo scored from the
penalty spot and took his tally to 41 goals, also taking his scoring streak to
four games. On 20 April, Cristiano Ronaldo scored the winning goal against
Barcelona in the 103rd minute of the Copa del Rey final. This goal would later
be chosen as both Cristiano Ronaldo's and Real Madrid's best goal in the season
by several fan polls, including those of Marca and Real Madrid's website. 7 May
saw Real travel to the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán to take on Sevilla, where Cristiano
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. 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 two 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 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 against Real
Sociedad in Cristiano Ronaldo's goal count, which had been officially
attributed to Pepe. Should this goal be granted to Cristiano Ronaldo, his goal
count in the Pichichi Trophy would tally 41 goals. However, regardless of this
goal polemic, Cristiano Ronaldo's record-breaking figures became a source of
major attention from public media, such as being included in the Sports
Illustrated World XI, rating him as one of the world's best footballers.
Accounting for all competitions, Cristiano Ronaldo ended the season with a
total of 53 goals (not granting him the controversial goal from Pepe), having
scored 25 goals with his right foot (excluding free-kicks and penalty-kicks)
and 9 with his left foot.
2011–12
seasonReal Madrid's pre-season began with a 4–1 victory over MLS team Los
Angeles Galaxy, with goals from Callejón, Joselu, Cristiano Ronaldo, and
Benzema. Four days later Cristiano Ronaldo scored a second half hat-trick in a
3–0 win against Guadalajara. Cristiano Ronaldo's preseason performance was
highly praised as world media kept hailing Cristiano Ronaldo's extreme
competitiveness and motivation, even during friendly matches. On 17 August
2011, Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 100th goal with Real Madrid with a
first-half equalizer against Barcelona in the second leg of the 2011 Spanish
Supercup in the Camp Nou. On August 27, 2011, he opened the 2011–12 La Liga
season with a hat-trick in a 6–0 win at Real Zaragoza.
In
the first weeks of September, Cristiano Ronaldo's physical performance was
subject to scrutiny by world media, after Castrol released a television film
named Cristiano Ronaldo: Tested to the Limit where he was put to test in
several fields, including mental and physical. Conclusions from the movie and
doctors in the weeks following claimed that Cristiano Ronaldo was one of the
best athletes in the world, excelling in football and outstanding in almost
every other category. Several sources drew comparisons between him and other
top athletes, including sprinter Usain Bolt. On 24 September, Cristiano Ronaldo
scored a hat-trick (including two penalties) in Real Madrid's 6–2 win over Rayo
Vallecano at the Santiago Bernabéu. This was his ninth La Liga hat-trick and
tenth hat-trick for Real Madrid. On September 27, Cristiano Ronaldo scored
Real's opening goal in a 3–0 defeat of Ajax in the Champions League. On 22
October, after not scoring in his previous three games, Cristiano Ronaldo
scored his tenth La Liga hat-trick and eleventh in total for Real Madrid in a
match away to Málaga, which Real Madrid won 4–0. His twelfth Real Madrid
hat-trick followed on 6 November, in a 7–1 victory over Osasuna that ensured
Madrid stayed top of the table heading into the international break. On 19
November 2011, Cristiano Ronaldo scored Real's second goal in a 2–3 defeat of
Valencia. On 26 November 2011, Cristiano Ronaldo scored two penalties in a 4–1
defeat of Atlético Madrid in the El Derbi madrileño. On 3 December 2011, Cristiano
Ronaldo scored Madrid's second goal in a 0–3 defeat of Sporting de Gijón in La
Liga. He was one of the three finalists for the 2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or. On 13
December 2011, Cristiano Ronaldo scored the second goal against SD Ponferradina
in the first leg of the Copa del Rey Round 4, the match ended in a 0–2 win. On
17 December 2011, Cristiano Ronaldo scored his twelfth La Liga hat-trick and
thirteenth overall in a 6–2 win away to Sevilla. Cristiano Ronaldo was third in
the 2010–11 UEFA Best Player in Europe Award, behind Lionel Messi and Xavi
Hernández, and second in the 2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or, behind Lionel Messi and
ahead of Xavi Hernández. In Real Madrid's next game in La Liga at home to
Granada Cristiano Ronaldo scored the fifth goal in a 5–1 win. He was notably
criticized in the public media for not celebrating the goal. On 22 January
2012, Cristiano Ronaldo scored two penalties in a 4–1 win over Athletic Bilbao,
and on 28 January scored Real Madrid's second and winning goal in a 3–1 win
against Zaragoza. Cristiano Ronaldo also scored two goals against Barcelona in
the Copa del Rey Quarter-finals, which Real lost 4–3 on aggregrate. On 12
February 2012 Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick, his thirteenth in La Liga
and fourteenth for Real Madrid, in a 4–2 home win over Levante. This win
stretched Real Madrid's lead over second-placed Barcelona to 10 points. On 24
March 2012, Cristiano Ronaldo reached more than 100 goals in La Liga in just
three seasons at Real Madrid. As of March 24, 2012, Cristiano Ronaldo had
averaged 1.01 goals per game in La Liga.
On
11 April, Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick against Atletico Madrid in a 1-4
win, as well as assisting the last goal. His hat-trick, one goal from a free
kick, one from 30 yards on the left wing, and one penalty, gave him 40 league
goals in the season, making him the only player in La Liga history to score 40
goals in two seasons, even doing so in consecutive seasons. Cristiano Ronaldo
officially broke his previous record of 40 goals in a La Liga season on 14
April, scoring in a 3–1 win against Sporting Gijón.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
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