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My Golden Boy: Ronaldo James Horncastle hails the phenomenal striker who became the first Brazilian to win the Golden Ball 
Sandro Mazzola wasn’t at all convinced. The corners of his iconic moustache had no doubt been twisted over and over again while in deep thought, but to no avail. Il Baffo had just chaired one of the three or four scouting meetings he organised on a monthly basis following Massimo Moratti’s takeover of the club in February 1995. The season had just ended and plans were being put in place for the first summer spending spree under Inter’s new owner.
Outside the meeting in Bologna, a pair of journalists gathered having been reliably informed that Inter were keeping tabs on Ronaldo. When asked if that were true, Mazzola famously said: “I saw Brazil play against England the other evening and he touched the ball on a few occasions, maybe two or three times in all.” The journalists were incredulous. “Yes, Sandro,” they replied. “Ronaldo touched the ball three times. He scored a goal, hit the post and laid on an assist.”
Despite Mazzola’s reservations, Moratti’s appetite was whet and his soap-like love affair with a buck-toothed Brazilian began there and then. It was a courtship that was remarkable for its length, one that started in the spring of 1996 when Ronaldo flew to Milan ostensibly to take some time off after suffering the first of many knee injuries while at PSV Eindhoven. It later emerged he had visited Moratti’s offices and was presented with a gold key ring depicting the Inter badge, which became one of his prized possessions.
Ronaldo moved to Barcelona aged 19 that summer, his record in Holland standing at 51 goals in 52 games over a short yet sensational two-year spell. Before the deal’s completion, however, PSV had reportedly notified Moratti of Barcelona’s offer and asked if he would like to bid again. The Inter patron said ‘no’. Weeks later he would come to regret that decision, no more so than on October 12, 1996, when Ronaldo scored one of the goals of the decade with a serpentine dash from the half way line against Compostela.
Nike would use the footage of that performance for an advert with the following slogan: “Imagine asking God to make you the best footballer in the world… and God listened.” It’s worthwhile pausing here and reflecting on just how much excitement there was around Ronaldo at that particular moment in time. The nickname O Fenômeno felt entirely appropriate and as the millennium approached he seemed to represent a new dawn, the prototype of an insatiable all action 21st Century striker.
“If Romario is the past, the cybernetic football of Ronaldo belongs to the future,” wrote Jorge Valdano in his seminal book The Dream of Futbolandia. His forthright opinion was largely shared among the football intelligentsia in Spain after a season in which Ronaldo scored 39 goals in 44 games, dragging a Bobby Robson-coached Barcelona to victory in the Cup-Winners Cup. “There is only one moment when Ronaldo isn’t dangerous,” grimaced Juanma Lillo, the-then Oviedo tactician. “And that’s when he isn’t playing.”
Greatness beckoned for Ronaldo. He became the first Brazilian to win the Ballon d’Or and Moratti just couldn’t wait any longer. He had to have him at all costs. Inter were made aware of a buy-out clause in Ronaldo’s existing contract and when he refused to sign a new deal with Barcelona, the writing appeared to be on the wall. Luis Suarez travelled to Bolivia where Brazil were playing in the Copa America. He knocked on Ronaldo’s door at the team hotel and agreed terms.
But Barcelona wouldn’t give him up without a fight, even going so far as to take Inter before FIFA to halt the player’s departure. It was too late, though. Moratti finally got his man for a then world record fee of £19m and Ronaldo was coming to Serie A. But not everyone was happy with the move at Inter. “I don’t understand why they have signed another striker, seeing as we have so many already,” sighed Maurizio Ganz, whose disappointment was shared by Ivan Zamorano. Bam Bam’s way of welcoming Ronaldo was equally frosty – he refused to give up his No 9 shirt.
“Football is a false world,” Ronaldo said. “I can count my real friends on the fingers of one hand. You are in training camp for months: you sleep, wake up, eat together then a teammate won’t even call you. Zamorano and Moriero lived in the same apartment block as me, but I was never in their flat nor were they ever in mine. When I arrived at Inter some of the players formed a group to push me out.”
It was widely believed that Diego Simeone headed that group, the Argentine’s axe grinding against the preferential treatment meted out to Inter’s new star. His response to Ronaldo’s plea for clear-the-air talks was particularly blunt. “Perhaps he’s referring to the heating not working in the dressing room.” So it came as no surprise that when Lazio asked for a player in exchange during negotiations to sell Christian Vieri the following summer, Inter showed little hesitation in offering up Simeone as a sacrificial lamb.
Ronaldo had no such problem entering into the hearts of Inter’s fans. The Curva Nord was already singing “Oh oh oh Fenomeno” when his official debut came against Brescia on August 31, 1997. “At times people think I’m an alien, but it’s not like that,” he said. And yet the scoresheet suggested otherwise. Inter legend Walter Zenga had a word of advice for Gigi Simoni, devising a tactic that went as follows: “First get the ball to Ronaldo then tell his teammates to go and celebrate with him.” It worked. The Nerazzurri didn’t lose until December 21 and a first Scudetto since 1989 looked on the cards.
Then came Juventus, Mark Iuliano and that foul on Ronaldo, providing Italian football with the talking point of the decade. Inter lost 1-0 on April 26, 1998, in la grande ruberia – the so-called great thievery – and the title race was effectively over. Of course, on a personal level, Ronaldo’s first year in Italy was classified a success. He scored 31 goals in 44 games for the Nerazzurri including a memorable lob in the Derby della Madonnina, not to mention an often forgotten Compostela-like replica against Piacenza. He also helped deliver the first trophy of the second Moratti era – a UEFA Cup won in Paris at Lazio’s expense.
This in many ways was a watershed moment in his career – the age of innocence was about to be lost. After the mysterious convulsions before the ’98 World Cup Final came Ronaldo’s two serious knee injuries, the first suffered against Lecce on November 21, 1999, and the second tragically enough just seven minutes into his competitive return away to Lazio five months later. He wouldn’t be seen in Serie A again until November 4, 2001, his efforts to win the Scudetto coming to nothing when Inter torturously threw it all away on the final day of the season on May 5, 2002. It was all too much to bear.
And this is the point where the first Ronaldo ends and the second begins. Later that year he would win both the World Cup and the Ballon d’Or again and then become a Galactico at Real Madrid. The hat-trick he scored at Old Trafford, for which he received a standing ovation from the Manchester United fans, bore testament to his outstanding talent. But O Fenômeno was now morphing into a caricature called El Gordo, a figure of fun whose excess was unfortunately being allowed to eat away at his still remarkable legacy.
Posterity, however, should live on a diet of Ronaldo’s first five and a half years in Europe when his hunger was only for goals. After all, he scored no fewer than 136 in 164 club appearances all by the tender age of 23, a veritable phenomenon, don’t you think?
Sandro Mazzola wasn’t at all convinced. The corners of his iconic moustache had no doubt been twisted over and over again while in deep thought, but to no avail. Il Baffo had just chaired one of the three or four scouting meetings he organised on a monthly basis following Massimo Moratti’s takeover of the club in February 1995. The season had just ended and plans were being put in place for the first summer spending spree under Inter’s new owner. Outside the meeting in Bologna, a pair of journalists gathered having been reliably informed that Inter were keeping tabs on Ronaldo. When asked if that were true, Mazzola famously said: “I saw Brazil play against England the other evening and he touched the ball on a few occasions, maybe two or three times in all.” The journalists were incredulous. “Yes, Sandro,” they replied. “Ronaldo touched the ball three times. He scored a goal, hit the post and laid on an assist.”
Despite Mazzola’s reservations, Moratti’s appetite was whet and his soap-like love affair with a buck-toothed Brazilian began there and then. It was a courtship that was remarkable for its length, one that started in the spring of 1996 when Ronaldo flew to Milan ostensibly to take some time off after suffering the first of many knee injuries while at PSV Eindhoven. It later emerged he had visited Moratti’s offices and was presented with a gold key ring depicting the Inter badge, which became one of his prized possessions.
Ronaldo moved to Barcelona aged 19 that summer, his record in Holland standing at 51 goals in 52 games over a short yet sensational two-year spell. Before the deal’s completion, however, PSV had reportedly notified Moratti of Barcelona’s offer and asked if he would like to bid again. The Inter patron said ‘no’. Weeks later he would come to regret that decision, no more so than on October 12, 1996, when Ronaldo scored one of the goals of the decade with a serpentine dash from the half way line against Compostela.
Nike would use the footage of that performance for an advert with the following slogan: “Imagine asking God to make you the best footballer in the world… and God listened.” It’s worthwhile pausing here and reflecting on just how much excitement there was around Ronaldo at that particular moment in time. The nickname O Fenômeno felt entirely appropriate and as the millennium approached he seemed to represent a new dawn, the prototype of an insatiable all action 21st Century striker.
“If Romario is the past, the cybernetic football of Ronaldo belongs to the future,” wrote Jorge Valdano in his seminal book The Dream of Futbolandia. His forthright opinion was largely shared among the football intelligentsia in Spain after a season in which Ronaldo scored 39 goals in 44 games, dragging a Bobby Robson-coached Barcelona to victory in the Cup-Winners Cup. “There is only one moment when Ronaldo isn’t dangerous,” grimaced Juanma Lillo, the-then Oviedo tactician. “And that’s when he isn’t playing.”
Greatness beckoned for Ronaldo. He became the first Brazilian to win the Ballon d’Or and Moratti just couldn’t wait any longer. He had to have him at all costs. Inter were made aware of a buy-out clause in Ronaldo’s existing contract and when he refused to sign a new deal with Barcelona, the writing appeared to be on the wall. Luis Suarez travelled to Bolivia where Brazil were playing in the Copa America. He knocked on Ronaldo’s door at the team hotel and agreed terms.
But Barcelona wouldn’t give him up without a fight, even going so far as to take Inter before FIFA to halt the player’s departure. It was too late, though. Moratti finally got his man for a then world record fee of £19m and Ronaldo was coming to Serie A. But not everyone was happy with the move at Inter. “I don’t understand why they have signed another striker, seeing as we have so many already,” sighed Maurizio Ganz, whose disappointment was shared by Ivan Zamorano. Bam Bam’s way of welcoming Ronaldo was equally frosty – he refused to give up his No 9 shirt.
“Football is a false world,” Ronaldo said. “I can count my real friends on the fingers of one hand. You are in training camp for months: you sleep, wake up, eat together then a teammate won’t even call you. Zamorano and Moriero lived in the same apartment block as me, but I was never in their flat nor were they ever in mine. When I arrived at Inter some of the players formed a group to push me out.”
It was widely believed that Diego Simeone headed that group, the Argentine’s axe grinding against the preferential treatment meted out to Inter’s new star. His response to Ronaldo’s plea for clear-the-air talks was particularly blunt. “Perhaps he’s referring to the heating not working in the dressing room.” So it came as no surprise that when Lazio asked for a player in exchange during negotiations to sell Christian Vieri the following summer, Inter showed little hesitation in offering up Simeone as a sacrificial lamb.
Ronaldo had no such problem entering into the hearts of Inter’s fans. The Curva Nord was already singing “Oh oh oh Fenomeno” when his official debut came against Brescia on August 31, 1997. “At times people think I’m an alien, but it’s not like that,” he said. And yet the scoresheet suggested otherwise. Inter legend Walter Zenga had a word of advice for Gigi Simoni, devising a tactic that went as follows: “First get the ball to Ronaldo then tell his teammates to go and celebrate with him.” It worked. The Nerazzurri didn’t lose until December 21 and a first Scudetto since 1989 looked on the cards.
Then came Juventus, Mark Iuliano and that foul on Ronaldo, providing Italian football with the talking point of the decade. Inter lost 1-0 on April 26, 1998, in la grande ruberia – the so-called great thievery – and the title race was effectively over. Of course, on a personal level, Ronaldo’s first year in Italy was classified a success. He scored 31 goals in 44 games for the Nerazzurri including a memorable lob in the Derby della Madonnina, not to mention an often forgotten Compostela-like replica against Piacenza. He also helped deliver the first trophy of the second Moratti era – a UEFA Cup won in Paris at Lazio’s expense.
This in many ways was a watershed moment in his career – the age of innocence was about to be lost. After the mysterious convulsions before the ’98 World Cup Final came Ronaldo’s two serious knee injuries, the first suffered against Lecce on November 21, 1999, and the second tragically enough just seven minutes into his competitive return away to Lazio five months later. He wouldn’t be seen in Serie A again until November 4, 2001, his efforts to win the Scudetto coming to nothing when Inter torturously threw it all away on the final day of the season on May 5, 2002. It was all too much to bear.
And this is the point where the first Ronaldo ends and the second begins. Later that year he would win both the World Cup and the Ballon d’Or again and then become a Galactico at Real Madrid. The hat-trick he scored at Old Trafford, for which he received a standing ovation from the Manchester United fans, bore testament to his outstanding talent. But O Fenômeno was now morphing into a caricature called El Gordo, a figure of fun whose excess was unfortunately being allowed to eat away at his still remarkable legacy.
Posterity, however, should live on a diet of Ronaldo’s first five and a half years in Europe when his hunger was only for goals. After all, he scored no fewer than 136 in 164 club appearances all by the tender age of 23, a veritable phenomenon, don’t you think?
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