Sporting CP
(Portugal), Manchester United (England)
Honours
2004 FA Cup
winner (Manchester United) 2004 Second du Championship d'Europe (PORTUGAL)
Biography
Cristiano Ronaldo (full name Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro)
born 5 February 1985, Funchal, Madeira, Portugal) is a
Portuguese professional football player who plays his club
football for Manchester United of England having previously
played for Portuguese team Sporting Lisbon.
Able to use either foot and play on both sides of the pitch, he
attracted the attentions of Sir Alex Ferguson in the summer of
2003, when Sporting Lisbon beat Manchester United 3–1 in the
inauguration of the Alvalade XXI stadium. After the match,
United's players spoke enthusiastically of the young talent that
they had just played against saying they would rather have him
on their team than have to play against him in the future. That
was enough for Ferguson to decide that he wanted to acquire the
youngster for his team, who were in the market for a right-sided
midfielder, signing him for £12.24 million after recently
completing the transfer of David Beckham out of the club.
Since debuting for the famous English club, Ronaldo has earned
equal amounts of praise and criticism for his flashy style of
play and dribbling skills. He has played primarily as a winger
for United and his ability to use both feet allows him to play
on either wing. He demonstrated these qualities at the 2004 FA
Cup final in Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, in which he starred,
scoring the first goal in United's 3–0 win over Millwall.
Ronaldo made his international debut in August 2003, against
Kazakhstan. He scored Portugal's only goal in their 2–1 loss to
Greece in the opening match of Euro 2004 and the first goal of
the semi final against the Netherlands which Portugal won 2–1.
The final saw a rematch of the opening game of the tournament
and again, Greece emerged victorious. The tournament ended in
failure for Ronaldo and Portugal, and has been followed by a
persistent failure to fulfill his obvious potential. As of yet,
for all his skill and pace, Ronaldo proves far too inconsistent
and the jury still remains concerning whether he is a capable
successor to David Beckham and the famous number 7 shirt once
worn by Old Trafford legends; Eric Cantona, George Best and
Bobby Charlton.
Ronaldo represented Portugal at the 2004 Olympic Games. As of 11
June 2005, he has scored 10 goals in 24 appearances for his
country. Ronaldo is currently the second highest scorer in World
Cup qualification in the European zone with 7 goals so far.
On the 29th October 2005 Ronaldo scored Manchester United's
1000th Premiership goal, in a 4–1 loss at the hands of
Middlesbrough. As of 12 February 2006, Ronaldo scored 4 goals in
his last two games — against Fulham and Portsmouth — making his
total for the currect season 9 goals, which is the number he
managed for the whole of last season.
