cr7

c r i s t i a n o r o n a l d o

b y t h o m a s y u e n

1995

Joined Nacional

A couple years later, CR7 moved to CD Nacional, one of the most known teams in Madeira, around his 10th bir thday.

Upside in his career

Downside in his career

1993

Joined Andorinha

Cristiano Ronaldo f irst step in soccer were made in his amateur hometown club called Andorinha, when he was sti l l 8 years old.

1997

Joined Sporting CP

It’s now clear that 1996 was a turnaround year in Cristiano Ronaldo life. By joining Sporting CP, Ronaldo had to leave his family back in Madeira and star t learning how to l ive on his own.

2003

Joined Manchester United

Manchester United’s manager Alex Gerguson signed Ronaldo af ter a fr iendly match with Sporting CP because all the players in United were stunned by his skil ls.

2004

Lost in the Euro 2004 Final

Ronaldo managed to help his team reaching the finals, but ended up by being defeated by Greece.

2002

Senior debut in Sporting CP

by the age of 16, he made his senior debut against Moreirense, in the Portuguese First Division. In that match, Ronaldo scored a brace and immediatly caught everyone’s attention upon him.

2003

Senior debut in National Team

P. 6 P. 8 P. 12 P. 16

I T STARTS IN PORTUG AL A RED

2006

Breakout

2008

Won FIFA Player of the year

The 2008 year was definately Cristiano Ronaldo glory year at Manchester United and af ter having won the UEFA Champions League, Ronaldo won the FIFA World Player of the Year and the European Player of the Year.

2009

Joined Real Madrid

In 2009, Cristiano Ronaldo broke another record by becoming the World’s most expensive football player, af ter transfering from Manchester United to Real Madrid in July 2009, in a £80 mill ion pounds transfer.

2011

Defeated FC Barcelona in Spanish Cup

Real Madrid meet Barcelona again in the Spanish Cup f inal and Ronaldo scored the goal, defeating Barcelona and took the champion.

2008

First UEFA Champions League

Ronaldo won the UEFA Champions League trophy for Manchester United

2005

Ronaldo’s father passed away

2009

Defeated in the UEFA Champions League f inal

2010

Horribly defeated by FC Barcelona

P. 18

P. 20

P. 26

P. 30

P. 36

P. 22

DE V IL LEGEND TO THE G AL ÁCT ICOS

i t sta rts i n po rt u g a l

6 i t s ta r t s i n p o r t u g a l

1985introduction

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. His second given name “Ronaldo” was chosen

after then-U.S. president Ronald Reagan, who was his

father’s favourite actor. He has one older brother, Hugo,

and two older sisters, Elma and Liliana Cátia. His great-

grandmother Isabel da Piedade was from Cape Verde.

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, after winning the

campaign, he went on a three-day trial with Sporting CP,

who subsequently signed him for an undisclosed sum.

8 i t s ta r t s i n p o r t u g a l

a portugal star

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. 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.

At the age of 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 in the hospital, 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, and he resumed

training only a few days later.

In November 2002, Ronaldo was invited to Arsenal’s

training ground, London Colney to meet manager Arsène

Wenger and his coaching staff. But Wenger, who was

interested in signing the midfielder had arranged to meet

Ronaldo’s representatives, Formation (who suggested

the player originally to Gérard Houllier, then Liverpool’s

manager) in the subsequent months in order to discuss a

transfer arrangement. 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.

1997-2002

“After we played Sporting the lads in the dressing room talked about him constantly, and on the plane back from the game they urged me to sign him.”Sir Alex FergusonManchester United Manager

a re d d e v i l leg e n d

12 a r e d d e v i l l e g e n d

new number seven

Ronaldo became Manchester United’s first Portuguese

player when he signed for €15 million after the 2002–03

season. 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.”

Cristiano Ronaldo’s adventure in England, started with a

memorable debut for Manchester United, coming in as

a substitute against Bolton Wanderers and playing for

around half an hour. Those 30 minutes are probably still

in the memory of many Manchester United fans, since

CR7 stunned everyone in the stadium and impressed the

traditional harsh English media, with his dazzling dribbles

and runs over the wing. Ronaldo scored his first goal

for Manchester United, by taking a curled free kick, in a

3-0 win against Portsmouth in 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. He scored United’s 1000th Premier League goal

on 29 October 2005 in a 4–1 loss to Middlesbrough.He

scored ten goals in all competitions, and fans voted him

to his first FIFPro Special Young Player of the Year award

in 2005. However, and despite several promising starts,

Cristiano Ronaldo’s first two seasons in Manchester

United received mixed reviews. He got praised for his

technique and skills, but he often got criticised for lacking

consistency and poor decision making on the field, which

seems to be a natural thing at the age of 17 and 18.

2003

Billy Meredith

Duncan Edwards

Roger Byrne

Sir Bobby Charlton

Denis Law

George Best

Sir Matt Busby

Sir Alex Ferguson

Steve Bruce

Bryan Robson

Eric Cantona

David Beckham

Roy Keane

Ryan Giggs

Legardary players in Manchester United

“Lots of young players have triumphed at United, so why can’t it happen to me? I’m not worried, I’m young, it’s an incentive to do the best I can.”

t o t h e g a l á c t i c o s 15


the biggest defeat yet

Regarding the Portuguese National Team, Cristiano

Ronaldo made his senior debut against Kazakhstan a few

weeks later, just after being signed by Manchester United,

in a match played in August 2003. CR7’s first biggest

tournament was the Euro 2004, organized by Portugal and

Ronaldo managed to help his team reaching the finals, but

ended up by being defeated by Greece. Cristiano Ronaldo

photos in tears after the match were the Portuguese soul

mirror that afternoon and those images got spread all

around the World.

2004

Cristiano Ronaldo cried out after the defeat in the Euro 2004 final.


breakout

The season 2006-07 proved to be the breakout year

for Ronaldo, as he broke the 20 goal barrier for the first

time and picked up his first premier 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. 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. Ronaldo amassed a host of personal

awards for the season. He won the PFA Players’ Player

of the Year and PFA Young Player of the Year awards,

joining Andy Gray (in 1977) as the only players to receive

this honour. In April, he completed the treble by winning

the PFA Fans’ Player of the Year. He also won the PFA

Fans’ Player of the Year and the FWA Footballer of

the Year, becoming the first player to win all four main

PFA and FWA awards. Ronaldo was also one of eight

Manchester United players named in the 2006–07 PFA

Premier League Team of the Year. in the World Cup 2006

played in Germany, Ronaldo was caught up in a very big

controversy, after allegedly pressuring and influencing the

referee to send off his Manchester United team mate and

England’s striker/forward Wayne Rooney, in the quarter

finals between England and Portugal. Cristiano Ronaldo

ended up being used as the scapegoat for England’s

defeat in the World Cup and the hatred towards him the

following season, could be seen on every stadium the Red

Devils had to play. English fans showed CR7 how much

they got upset with the World Cup elimination and started

insulting and “booing” Cristiano Ronaldo on every match

outside Old Trafford. That situation made CR7 think about

leaving England and Manchester United. However, Sir Alex

Ferguson managed to convince him to stay and, against

all odds, Cristiano Ronaldo surprised everyone with a

great season in the English Premiership League.

2006

“All the boos and insults just motivate me training harder and playing better.”


europe champion

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. 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.

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. One month later, Lyon were fined £2,427 for the

incident. 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. 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. 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. 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, 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. In the Champions League he was

also named best forward and player of the tournament

and was the competition’s top goalscorer. The 2008 year

was definitely Cristiano Ronaldo glory year at Manchester

United and after winning the UEFA Champions League,

Ronaldo won the FIFA World Player of the Year and the

European Player of the Year.

2008


goodbye united

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. 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. Speculation that a transfer

would happen continued until 6 August, when Ronaldo

confirmed that he would stay at United for another year.

On 12 January 2009, Ronaldo 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. 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, Ronaldo scored a 40-yard

game-winning goal as United advanced to the semi-finals.

For this goal Ronaldo holds the distinction of being the

first player to win the FIFA Puskás Award, in 2009, an

honour handed by FIFA to the best goal of the year. He

later called it the best goal he had ever scored. Ronaldo

participated in his second consecutive Champions League

final, but this time he made little impact in United’s 2–0

loss to Barcelona. He finished with 53 appearances in al l

competit ions, which was four higher than the previous

year, but scored sixteen fewer goals than his career-best

total of 42 from the previous season. After 6 years spent

in Manchester United, on 11 June, Manchester United

accepted an unconditional offer of £80 mill ion from Real

Madrid for Ronaldo after it was revealed that he again had

expressed his desire to leave the club. 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.”

2009


Cristiano Ronaldo misses a chance to score past Barcelona’s Gerrard Pique.

to t h e g a l áct ic o s

26 t o t h e g a l á c t i c o s

On 26 June 2009, Real Madrid confirmed that Ronaldo

would join the club on 1 July 2009 from Manchester

United for £80 million, and becoming the most expensive

footballer in history, after agreeing terms and signing a

six-year contract. 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. Ronaldo was welcomed by between 80,000 and

85,000 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 transferred from

Barcelona to Napoli in 1984. The event was broadcasted

live on the Spanish and Portuguese public TV stations.

2009welcome to bernabéu

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, 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,

Ronaldo scored two free-kicks in a 5–2 away victory over

Zürich, his first Champions League goals for Real. He

broke the club’s record when he scored in a league match

against Villarreal and became the first ever player to score

in his first four La Liga appearances consecutively.

An ankle injury suffered on 10 October, while 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. 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. He was second in the 2009 FIFA

World Player of the Year award and also second in the

2009 Ballon d’Or award. On 5 May 2010 Ronaldo scored

his first Real Madrid hat-trick in an away game against

Mallorca. Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuaín scored 53 league

goals together during the course of the season and

became Real’s highest scoring league duo in their history.

“I’m proud to play for Real Madrid because I have fun; when you no longer have fun it’s a sign that it’s time to leave. For now though, I’m happy here at the greatest club in the world.”

Cristiano Ronaldo wasn’t wearing No.7 in the first year in Real Madrid. It was wore by Raúl, the captain of Real Madrid at that time.


2010With the departure of Raúl during the summer of 2010,

Ronaldo was handed the No. 7 jersey for Real Madrid.

On 23 October 2010, 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 in which Ronaldo scored in each

match, totalling 11 goals, which is the most Ronaldo

has scored in a single month. Before Real Madrid facing

Barcelona at the Camp Nou, Ronaldo scored his second

La Liga hat-trick of the season in a 5–1 win over Athletic

Bilbao. Real Madrid was looking good in the league title.

Few days after, Barcelona ripped apart Spanish title rivals

Real Madrid to take top spot in La Liga with an emphatic

5-0 home victory in the first “Clasico” of the season.

a bad start

Real coach Jose Mourinho suffered an embarrassing first

defeat since taking over in May as defending champions

Barca moved two points clear after 13 games following

the Catalan side’s fifth successive win over the capital

outfit. The visitors were rocked from the outset as Xavi

and Pedro put Pep Guardiola’s team 2-0 up inside 20

minutes, then David Villa scored twice in four second-half

minutes to effectively end the game before Jeffren’s late

goal just rubbed salt in Real’s wounds.

That led to Madrid defender Sergio Ramos being sent

off after clattering into Lionel Messi and then shoving

Barca captain Carles Puyol to the floor as passions boiled

despite the cold, pouring rain.

Cristiano Ronaldo humiliated by Barcelona’s player during the match between Real Madrid and Barcelona.

“The great thing about him is that he will not quit.”George BestManchester United Legend


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. 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, 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, 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. 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, Ronaldo made another massive

comeback from injury, sustaining a three-game scoring

streak, 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, which was 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.

2011huge comeback

When Barcelona meet Real Madrid the biggest subplot is

the battle of Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo.Ronaldo is

the world’s most expensive player, Real having signed him

for $131 in the summer of 2009. Prior to that he had been

signed by Manchester United from Sporting Lisbon as

an 18-year-old. They are two of the highest paid soccer

players in the world game.Messi has a release clause of

$400 million and his rise to the top could not contrast

more starkly to that of Ronaldo. The Argentinean left

Newell’s Old Boys for Barcelona at the age of 13, with the

club paying for treatment on a growth hormone deficiency

that threatened to stunt his progress. In 2012 he became

the club’s record goalscorer at the age of just 24. Each

player has won the World Player of the Year award, and

has scored in a Champions League final. Everytime Real

Madrid is going to fight against Barcelona, people will not

only make comparison to both clubs, but also a battle

between Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi.

hard rivalry

“You cannot compare a Ferrari with a Porsche because it’s a different engine. You cannot compare them. He does the best things for Barcelona, I do the best things for Madrid, so everyone says.”


The 2011 Copa del Rey final was the 107th final since its

establishment. The match was a traditional ‘El Clásico’

rivalry between Barcelona and Real Madrid which took

place on 20 April 2011 at the Estadio Mestalla, making it

the sixth such Copa del Rey final, just four days after the

two teams played each other in La Liga and seven days

before they played each other in the UEFA Champions

League first leg semi-final. Real Madrid lifted the trophy

for the eighteenth time in their history with a 1–0 victory

after extra time.

The match was scoreless after 90 minutes but there had

been numerous scoring chances on both sides. Cristiano

Ronaldo was credited with having three good chances in

the first half, the last of which was kept out with a one-

handed save by Barcelona goalkeeper Pinto. Barcelona

did not have a shot on target in the first half but in the

second they dominated possession and Iniesta and Pedro

both forced saves by Real Madrid’s goalkeeper Casillas.

The game was won in the first period of extra time by the

game’s only goal, a header from Cristiano Ronaldo from

a cross from teammate di María. 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

and Real Madrid’s website. 7th 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. 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 goals, a record which previously held by Telmo

Zarra and Hugo Sánchez.

revenge

39t o t h e g a l á c t i c o s

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 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 Ronaldo's goal count, which

had been officially attributed to Pepe.Should this goal

be granted to Ronaldo, his goal count in the Pichichi

Trophy would tally 41 goals. Ronaldo also broke Zarra's

record of most goals per minute, with a goal scored every

70.7 minutes. However, regardless of this goal polemic,

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.

“To me, being the best means proving it in different countries and championships.”

cr7

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