The footballer whose smiling face conquered as many hearts as his football, Ronaldinho was a magician on the field and is one of the greatest players ever to play the beautiful game. The Brazilian started his career at Gremio, where he played 145 games, scoring 72 goals. He moved to PSG in 2001 and played for two seasons before joining Barcelona, where he would leave a legacy behind. In the five seasons that he was at the Nou Camp, Ronaldinho played 207 games, scoring 94 goals and his tricks and skills entertained the whole world and kick-started Barcelona’s dominance in Europe.
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He won 2 La Liga Titles, two Supercopa de Espana and one Champions League trophy, before moving to Milan in 2008, where he played for 3 seasons. He would go on to play for Flamengo, Atletico Minero, Queretaro in the Liga MX and Fluminense in a colorful twilight of his career. Ronaldinho then moved to India to feature in the Premier Futsal League for two seasons before finally retiring.
During his long and fruitful career, Ronaldinho had won the 2002 World Cup with Brazil as well as the 1999 Copa America. He won the Ballon d'Or in 2005 and was adjudged the FIFA World Player of the year in 2004 and 2005.
Apparently, the Brazilian was just 48 hours away from joining Manchester United in the summer of 2003, to replace Beckham, however, the move fell through, as Beckham joined Real Madrid and Ronaldinho moved to Barcelona. However, it ultimately worked in United favor as United signed an unknown teenager named Cristiano Ronaldo to replace Beckham. One can be forgiven for wondering how different things would have been had Ronaldo blossomed under the guidance of Ronaldinho at Manchester United.
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About the author
Deepungsu Pandit
Deepungsu is a veteran football journalist who has been covering daily transfer roundups and news for over six years at Sportskeeda. He has written over 8500 articles for the website, and has garnered over 19.5Million reads.
Deepungsu holds a PG degree in Microbiology and an MBA degree in Total Quality Management. He has an extensive two-decade long writing experience, which includes a decade of sports blogging. His writing prowess has even led his work getting cited on the legendary Franz Beckenbauer's Wikipedia page.
Inspired by Diego Maradona, Deepungsu played as an attacking midfielder for his local club at subdivision level in his initial years and scored an important goal or two. However, his all-time favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and evidently, he feels Argentina's glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment for fulfilling his long-standing dream. He is also an ardent East Bengal fan.
Deepungsu has been a Manchester United supporter since the year 2000. Unsurprisingly, his favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson and the Scotsman helped him get through some of the toughest days of his life. Like the fiery Scot, Deepungsu also leaves no stone unturned when it comes to accuracy in articles and only relies on credible sources.
Despite believing in Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland to create an iconic rivalry, Deepungsu reckons no one can match the longevity of Messi and Ronaldo. He spends his leisure time writing about life on his blog, reading books, and playing the guitar.
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