Cristiano Ronaldo

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{{Football player infobox | playername= Cristiano Ronaldo | image = | fullname = Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro | nickname = Ronaldo</br> Ronnie</br> Twinkle Toes</br> Step over King | dateofbirth = 5 February, 1985 | cityofbirth = Funchal | countryofbirth = Madeira | height = 6'2 (187cm) | currentclub = Manchester United | position = Attacking Midfielder | youthyears = 1999(?) – 2003 | youthclubs = Sporting Lisbon | years = 1999–2003</br>2003–present | clubs = Sporting Lisbon</br>Manchester United | caps(goals) = 29 (9) | nationalyears = 2003 – present | nationalteam = Portugal | nationalcaps(goals) = 30 (11) | pcupdate = 12 Feb 06 | ntupdate = 12 Feb 06 Bold text }}

Cristiano Ronaldo (pron. IPA /Template:IPA/ or /Template:IPA/; 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. Height: 187 cm, weight: 76 kg. Bold text


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Career and Life


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.

There is continual debate and critical scrutiny as to Cristiano Ronaldo's style of play. Often critisiced for his 'individualistic' style of play, Ronaldo has been questioned by the media, commentators and team-mates. As such, a bust up between Ruud van Nistelrooy and himself at the Carrington Road training ground recently has indeed intensified speculation about Ronaldo's future at the Manchester club. Recent reports in the newspaper (Mirror) suggest a £20 million swoop is on the cards by Italian giants, Juventus, and a summer exit is possible.

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. The Portuguese wideman bagged a double double in February, with a brace of goals at home to Fulham and another pair at Fratton Park, and also scored in the following premiership game against Wigan taking his tally to 8 Premiership goals. On 26th February 2006, Ronaldo also played in the Carling Cup Final against Wigan in the Millennium Stadium at Cardiff, and scored a goal - taking his season tally to 10 goals.

Cristiano Ronaldo's form has been improving lately both for his club and National Team as he scored 2 goals in Portugal's 3-0 win over Saudi Arabia in a friendly match on 1st March 2006 and was also named the OPTA player of the month of February. However, he ended the month of February with a devastating conversion rate of 40%. He has been rewarded for his excellent form in the second half of the season by being nominated for PFA Young Player of the Year.

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Honours

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Private Life

Little is known about his private life. His father, Dinis Aveiro passed away on September 7, 2005. Despite that he played in the World Cup Qualifier against Russia only hours after receiving the news. [1] He was also granted compassionate leave by Sir Alex Ferguson and thus missed the Premier League Match against Manchester City on September 10. He however declared himself available for Manchester United's next match in the UEFA Champions League, against Villarreal.



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Charity

Ronaldo has also done charity work, including recently flying out Martunis, an 11-year-old Indonesian tsunami survivor and his father to attend one of their World Cup qualifiers, covering all their expenses. Subsequently all the players contributed money to buy them a house in Indonesia.

After the two World Cup qualifiers in June, Ronaldo flew to Indonesia to visit the areas affected by the tsunami and to raise funds. He met the President of the Indonesian Republic Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the President of East Timor Xanana Gusmão and raised over 1 Billion rupiah by auctioning off his personal sports gear.




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Trivia

  • His second name (Ronaldo) is relatively rare in Portugal. His parents chose the name in honor of late US president Ronald Reagan, who was his father's favourite actor.
  • Ronaldo endorses Nike, Pepe Jeans and Suzuki cars (although he drives a silver Porsche), among other products.
  • Ronaldo was named FIFPro Special Young Player of the Year 2005, the only award to be voted for by fans. He also ranked 20th in the FIFA Player of the Year (2005) standings.
  • Ronaldo was first spotted by former Liverpool F.C manager Gerrard Houllier at the age of 16. However, Liverpool later declined him because he was too young and needed some time to develop into a top footballer.
  • Ronaldo appears on the cover of the game FIFA Street 2

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External links

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