Exactly How Good Was Ronaldinho?

often considered as one of the best players in his generation and regarded by quite a few as potentially one of the greatest of all time it's no doubt that everyone knows how legendary ronaldinho was but just exactly how good was he how did he start to make his name and how does he compare to other legends and all-time greats what's up guys it's your boy raymar back again for another video and today we're gonna look at just exactly how good ronaldinho was even before ronaldinho was born the game of football was already in his blood his father was a former professional football player his brother was a current professional football player and even his uncles and grandfathers played the game that being said however they weren't your typical professional players as they played for small clubs in small leagues and it didn't get paid that much interesting fact is that ronaldinho's real name is actually ronaldo diazis moriera when he was eight years old inyo was added to his first name ultimately giving him the nickname ronaldinho which meant small because he was one of the tiniest kids in his youth club this name stuck with him throughout his career because once he would join the brazilian man's national team there would already be a ronaldo and since he was younger the name would stick and become very well known in time however even at the age of 8 his talent was already much more advanced his touch dribble and control was years beyond the other kids this was because as long as he could walk ronaldinho was already getting used to dribbling as he would play beach football and indoor futsal before even playing on an actual football pitch for an organized match he first really got noticed at the age of 13 after a 23-0 victory against a local football team where he scored all 23 goals by himself you know it's like when you play fifa my player in easy mode because my goodness that must have been absolutely embarrassing for the other team ronaldinho would make his professional senior debut under gremio in the brazilian serie a scoring 23 goals in 48 matches only at the age of 18 in 1998 the next year he would be called up for his very first international match in the 1999 copa america where brazil would go on to win then just a week later he would go play for brazil in the 1999 confederations cup where he would score in every single game except the final which also included a hat-trick against saudi arabia ultimately winning the tournament golden ball and scoring six goals to win the tournament golden boot and i know it's just the confederations cup but still to do it at the age of 19 is still pretty impressive surprisingly the very first european team to ever approach ronaldinho just happened to be arsenal in 2001 however the move never happened because ronaldinho couldn't get hold of a work permit due to some rule about being a non-european and not playing enough international matches so sorry arsenal fans you guys could have seen a young ronaldinho playing with thierry henry and dennis bergkamp but hey maybe in an alternate universe they did in reality though the first european team to secure ronaldinho's signature was psg in 2001. he would sign a ridiculously low 5-year 5 million euro deal honestly i have no idea how they were able to sign him for such a low fee especially when you see young players these days getting paid ridiculous amounts and they're not even that great but that's inflation for you at first ronaldinho spent a few months on the bench before he would slowly but surely start being included in the starting lineup it would be after the winter break in his first year with psg that he would really start getting more recognition during his return from the break he would go on to score in four consecutive matches earning him a permanent starting position in just his first year with psg ronaldinho would go on to score 13 goals and have four assists in 39 appearances leading his club in scoring for all competitions although the young ronaldinho was already rising up and becoming a superstar he would have a complicated relationship with his coach at the time luis fernandez who would criticize him saying that the young brazilian was too caught up in the parisian nightlife and complained that he would never arrive back on time from his brazilian holidays i mean what's up with brazilian stars getting so caught up with partying you have ronaldo pato adriano and ronaldinho all known for their excessive night lives i definitely need to try a brazilian party one time but anyways the very next season for psg ronaldinho would score 12 goals and have four assists in 37 games which was pretty much the same output he had last year where he would again lead his club in scoring across all competitions and lead his club into the coup de france final but psg wouldn't win any form of silverware that year and would end up 11th in league in standings after this season ronaldinho requested a trade due to the club's failure to qualify for any european competition where he knew he would make an even bigger name for himself on a bigger stage the summer of 2002 also brought a lot of spotlight and praise for the young ronaldinho the world cup hosted by south korea and japan really showcased just how skilled and talented ronaldinho was rivaldo ronaldo and ronaldinho would make up what was known as brazil's three rs their unstoppable offense that dominated the 1999 copa america ronaldinho would go on to score two goals and have three assists during the tournament it might not sound that impressive but ronaldinho saved his team from the brink of elimination during the quarter-final against england brazil was down 0-1 until ronaldinho had an amazing run and passed the ball to rivaldo for an easy goal and assist then he would score one of the most iconic free kicks in world cup history with that perfect upper 90 corner shot if not for ronaldinho brazil would have lost this game and wouldn't have been able to win their country's fifth world cup title by the end of the 2002-2003 season ronaldinho was a proven global superstar at the age of 23. barcelona made it their mission to acquire him as they outbid manchester united to sign ronaldinho for 30 million euros the 2003-2004 season would be ronaldinho's first in spain and he would go on to score 22 goals and have 11 assists in 45 games giving him a goal scoring ratio of 0.

49 goals a game even though barsa didn't really do anything other than placing second in la liga ronaldinho would lead his club in scoring giving him the best season of his career so far the 2004-2005 season was the first time ronaldinho really experienced any club success as he would go on to win his first la liga title with barcelona that season he would go on to score 13 goals and have 16 assists in 42 games as carlos puyol described perfectly ronaldinho was the one that really gave barcelona their spirit back ronaldinho also won his first fifa world player of the year award and coincidentally also assisted a young lionel messi on his very first goal for barcelona the 2005-2006 season was the height of ronaldinho's career as he would win a minor treble with barcelona with the champions league la liga and spanish super cup titles he would also go on to have the best season of his career scoring 26 goals and having 25 assists in 45 games which would be an amazing . 58 goals per game and . 56 assists per game ratio not to mention he would also lead brazil to its second confederation cup title and also holds the record for the most goals scored in the history of the tournament with nine this amazing year and season would land him his second consecutive fifa world player of the year award becoming the third player to ever win the award more than once other than ronaldo and zidane and finally to cap it all off would also win the prestigious spell on door ronaldinho was so good this year even after destroying real madrid at home at the santiago bernabeu for the el clasico the real madrid fans actually applauded him something they've only previously done for no other than diego maradona which just shows you how good he was and how much they respected him as a player i believe that the 2006 2007 season would really be the last time we would see ronaldinho in any amazing form he would go on to score 24 goals and have 14 assists in 49 appearances in which he would once again lead barcelona in scoring across all competitions however barcelona pretty much got cooked for the la liga uefa super cup and club world cup titles as they would finish in second place for all three like i said that was the last time we'd really see a prime ronaldinho the 2007-2008 season was plagued with injuries for ronaldinho which included a muscle tear on his right leg that would pretty much end his season he would have 9 goals and 6 assists in 26 games the barcelona front office specifically former club president john laporta said that he believed after three years ronaldinho was out of his prime and needed a new challenge to revive his career so pretty much after winning every major trophy there was ronaldinho just decided to chill and like so many brazilian stars like him decided to start partying more and training less and thus barcelona sold him to ac milan his years in milan were honestly pretty average and it was clear that he wasn't nearly as physically fit or dedicated to the game as he used to be former coach carlo ancelotti said the decline of ronaldinho hasn't surprised me his physical condition has always been very precarious his talent though has never been in question the only noteworthy thing that would happen during his time in milan would be him leading the syrian assist for the 2009-2010 season after ac milan ronaldinho would go back to brazil to play for the brazilian league and even had a year in mexico where he would play for liga mx but it's safe to say that those years wouldn't really be relevant at all so let's go ahead and look at the career numbers for ronaldinho for brazil he would score 33 goals in 97 games and for his club career he would score 280 goals and 719 appearances for a total of 313 goals in 816 games ultimately ending with a career goal scoring ratio of .