Friday, January 16, 2009

Cristiano Ronaldo

By Denise I Smithson

Cristiano Ronaldo, born February 5, 1985 plays winger for the English Premier League club Manchester United. As a youth player, Sir Alex Ferguson, who signed the eighteen year old to a 21.24 million contract in 2003, where in that same year he won his first cap for the Portuguese, noted Ronaldo's talent. As a delight to his fans, Cristiano reach the final of the UEFA Euro in 2004 and scored his first international goal.

During the 2006-2007 season, Christiano Ronaldo scored on both the club and international levels as the young player's career took off like a rocket. His first Premier League title was given to him that season, too, as he became the Premier League's top scorer. In 2008, Ronaldo went on to be named the FIFPro World Player of the Year and was given the Ballon d'Or award.

Jose Dinis Averio and Maria Dolores dos Santos Averio and Jose Dinis Averio gave the third of their four children the middle name "Ronaldo" after then-United States President Ronald Regan--who was Jose's favorite movie actor.

His early career began at the age of only eight where he played for the amateur team C.F. Andorinha-in 1995, Cristiano signed with CD Nacional, a local club. Overjoyed with his success, the Sporting CP club signed him after a three-day trial run; the amount of the signing has never been released. At the Sporting CP in Portugal, Ronaldo trained at the Alcochete, a footballer's academy and was the only player ever to play for Sporting's U-16, U-17, U-18 and B-team. In 2003, the Manchester United players begged for Sir Alex Ferguson to sign him-and so became a footballer and fan favorite.

With a team behind him, Cristiano, was the very first Portuguese player to sign with an English team and he requested number 23, not wanting the number 7 tied to such players as Eric Cantona or David Beckham, among others; there was sense in Cristiano to be his own player and that he was. His team debut was a 60th-minute substitute winning 4.0 over the Bolton Wanderers. He scored United's thousandth Premier League goal in October of 2005 and fans voted him to enter his first FIFPro Special Young Player of the Year awards in that same year.

Then in the 2005-2006 season Ronaldo did something that only two footballers, Robbie Fowler and Dennis Bergkamp in the mid-1990s, had ever done before: he won consecutive Barclays Player of the Month awards. Furthermore, Crristiano's 50th career goal helped Manchester United defeat rivals Manchester City F.C. to take their first Premier League title in four years. Thrilled with him yet again, the fans gave Ronaldo the FIFPro Special Young Player of the Year Award again. But then, fans were not breathing so easy when the Real Madrids began heavily recruiting their Cristiano Ronaldo, so in April of 2006 United responded with a $31 million a year contract, the most they've ever payed any player.

2006 saw Cristiano win three of football's top accolades: the PFA Players' Player of the Year, the PFA Fans' Player of the Year, and the PFA Young Player of the Year. Cristiano has been know to be, shall we say, hot tempered, and his antics got him banned for three matches in the 2007-08 season. However, he told his coach that in the future he would not allow rival players to get him riled up. He was made team captain for United in March of 2008 and scored 35 goals for the season, breaking the 40-year-record of George Best who had 32 in 1967-1968.

Just as it seemed Cristiano might head for the Real Madrid team, he remained committed to United for another year. Scoring is 100th and 101st goals in United's 5-0 win over Stroke City in November, it seemed Ronaldo was headed for greatness, something most footballers only dream of. To end his season, Ronald accepted Manchester United's first Ballon d'Or award since George Best won it in 1968. The magnificent Ronaldo finished his season with 446 points-quite the accomplishment for such a young player. We await the 2008-09 season to see more ways Cristiano will wow his fans all over the world.

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