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Cristiano Ronaldo born 5 February 1985, Funchal, Madeira, Portugal) is a
Portuguese professional football player who plays his club football for
Manchester United of England.
Widely regarded as one of the premier talents in European football, Ronaldo
originally played for Portuguese team Sporting Lisbon, a team famous for
producing Inter Milan star Luis Figo.
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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 Sir Alex 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 pounds 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.
In his second season at United, Ronaldo has grown as a player, notably
starring in the memorable 4-2 demolition of champions Arsenal at their
Highbury stadium. Despite this, the doubts over his 'flashy' style and
perceived inability to produce an 'end product', the final killer cross or
pass to set-up a goal are yet to be allayed.
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. Though the tournament ended
in disappointment for Ronaldo, he had truly come of age as a player.
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 drubbing at the hands of Middlesbrough.
Profile:
Date of Birth: February 5, 1985
Place of Birth: Funchal, Madeira, Portugal
Height: 6'2 (1.88m)
Weight: 75 kg
Position: Wing
Country: Portugal
Team's website
Squad Number (Country): 17
International Caps: 29
International Goals: 9
International Honours: Euro 2004 finalist (2004)
UEFA Team of the year ('04)
FIFPro Special Young player of the Year ('05)
Club: Manchester United F.C.
Club's website
Squad Number (Club) 7
Club Honours: FA Premier winner ('03)
FA Charity Shield winner ('03)
FA Cup winner ('04)
FA Cup finalist ('05)
Previous Clubs: Sporting C.P. ('02 - '03)
Club's website |
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