The Story of life Ronaldo (English)

  In 1997, Ronaldo had just finished one ofthe greatest individual seasons of all time at Barcelona. He was loved by a club and a city that livesfor football, and a promising team was built around him. He could have done pretty much what he likedthere, but instead he moved to In

ter to do it all again. And, for a short while, he really did. Ronaldo arrived at Inter as the man to finallybring them a league title. They hadn't won aScudetto since 1989 and had only two in the previous 26 years, all while their Milaneseneighbours had been hoovering up the trophies. But Ronaldo was their great hope, theyoung man on whom they spent $27million – a world record fee, making him the only man other than Diego Maradona to have broken that record twice. To say Ronaldo's arrival was highly-anticipatedin Italy would be an understatement. Apathy had been growing and attendances shrinking in the years before he signed, but that summerInter sold 51,000 season tickets, as opposed to the 16,000 the year before. 

Their main sponsor, Pirelli, produced a brilliant advert in which Ronaldo stood on one foot, armsoutstretched and standing over Rio de Janeiro like Christ the Redeemer in black and bluestripes, with tyre tread on the sole of his other foot and the slogan 'Power is nothingwithout control' beneath. Ronaldo's debut was upstaged by Alvaro Recoba,a fellow new signing who came off the bench against Brescia to score two late goalsand salvage a victory. 

But after that he was offand running, scoring eight goals in his next six games, including a brilliant hat-trickagainst Piacenza in the Coppa Italia. At the end of the year he was voted FIFA World Player of the Year for a second time, the first Inter player ever to receive the award, and although they finished five points behind Juventus in thetitle race, Ronaldo scored 25 goals in the league, 34 overall: no small feat in a country as famous for its merciless defences as Italy. They also won the UEFA Cup, a lollipopping Ronaldo capping a 3-0 victory in the final over Lazio. But under all of this was a nagging feelingthat something wasn't right in his knee. It had caused him problems in the past, and while the knee might not have been the source of the remarkable episode that nearly saw him missthat summer's World Cup final, it felt like a gently ticking time bomb. 

Nevertheless, the following season Inter stillleant on Ronaldo. “Taking the field without himis like leaving home in winter without an overcoat,” said midfielder Diego Simeone. They went cold quite a lot: increasing concerns over the pain in his knee meant Ronaldo onlystarted 19 league games, but he still scored 14 goals. Around him, the club was in chaos,getting through four managers in the season and ultimately only finishing in 8th place. That summer's Copa America, in which Ronaldolooked back to his best as he helped Brazil win the tournament, provided some relief,but the following season would be where his previous problems came to a head. After the arrival of new manager Marcelo Lippi and new record signing Christian Vieri, Ronaldo foundhimself on the bench in the opening weeks of the season.

 He was in the starting line-up by November,but in a game against Lecce he felt a crack in his knee, which turned out to bea split in his patella tendon. After surgery in Paris, Ronaldo made his comeback in the Coppa Italia final, against Lazio in April. But just sevenminutes after coming on as a substitute, he collapsed to the floor in agony: this time the same patella tendon had snapped completely. He missed the entire 2000/01 season, painstakingrecovery taking place in Brazil, the USA and France. Eventually he returned in the autumn of 2001,but his time out had caused other problems, and comebacks were curtailedby various thigh injuries. Inter manager Hector Cuper rapidly lost patience, often refusing to pick Ronaldo even when he was fit, and the club hierarchy sided with him, sowingthe seeds for what would happen that summer.​ 

Nevertheless, when an injury to Vieri meantCuper almost had to play Ronaldo, he scored some crucial goals as Inter went into theirfinal game, against Lazio, in pole position for the title. But Cuper substituted Ronaldo at half-time,causing him to break down in tears in full view of the cameras, in the same stadium hisknee had shattered almost two-and-a-half years earlier. Nevertheless, Luiz Felipe Scolari had more faith in Ronaldo, and selected him for that summer's World Cup.

 Ronaldo didn't quite win the tournament onhis own, but that wasn't far from being the truth. Apart from anything else, it confirmed thathe was back. Despite the club paying medical bills andsupporting Ronaldo through his recovery, the retention of Cuper meant that Ronaldo hadno intention of staying at Inter. He handed in atransfer request, and while Barcelona, Manchester United and Arsenal were all mentioned,he only wanted Real Madrid. 

The deal took months, involved a Machiavellianattempt by Barcelona to scupper it and was nearly derailed when Real president FlorentinoPerez's son used their dial-up internet connection, thus preventing Inter from calling to confirm, with just hours to go before the transfer deadline. But in the end the move was confirmed, fora fee of €22million, plus Argentinean winger Santi Solari. 

Ronaldo played 99 times for Inter, scoring59 goals: an excellent record for anyone, never mind a striker who had spent most of his five seasons at the club out with devastatinginjuries. But ultimately his time there represents oneof Italian football's great 'what ifs'. If Ronaldo had stayed fit, and been as good as he could have been, what could they haveachieved....?