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Intro
Cristiano Ronaldo Dos Santos Aveirio was born on 5 February 1985 in Funchal, Madeira. Ronaldo is a Portuguese footballer who plays for Premiership champions Manchester United and the Portuguese national team. With Manchester United, Ronaldo plays fundamentally as a right winger but he can play anyway across the field and he has also been used more and more frequently as a striker, particularly in the 07/08 season.

Cristiano Ronaldo won the 2007 English PFA Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year awards and repeated the same clean sweep the following year to achieve an unprecedented double of the two main English Awards. Ronaldo finished third in the 2007 World Player of the Year award. Cristiano Ronaldo is widely regarded as one of the most talented footballers of his generation, and at the moment is being touted as probably the next World Player of the year. The ultimate complement for Ronaldo came just before George Best’s death in 2006. “I get lots of players compared with me, but this is the only one that I take as a complement”. Best stated.

Early Days
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro was born to mum, Maria Dolores dos Santos Aveiro and dad, José Dinis Aveiro (1954 – 5 September 2005). He has one older brother, Hugo, and two elder sisters, Elma and Liliana Cátia. Liliana Cátia works as a singer by the stage name “Ronalda” in Portugal. Cristiano’s second given name, “Ronaldo,” is relatively rare in Portugal. His parents named him after Ronald Reagan due to his late father’s admiration for the former president.

He began kicking a football when he was three, and when he started primary school at age six, his passion for the sport was obvious. His favourite boyhood team was Benfica even though he would later join their main rival, Sporting Lisbon. He first played for an Portuguese amateur team, Andorinha, where his father was employed a the kit man, when he was just eight years old. By the mid nineties, at just ten years of age, Ronaldo’s reputation was growing in Portugal and people began to believe that a special player had been born. Madeira had two top two teams, CS Marítimo and CD Nacional who were both interested in Ronaldo’s signature. Marítimo, the bigger team, missed a crucial meeting with Rui Santos, Ronaldo’s manager at Andorinha, and as a result, Ronaldo went to Nacional. After a title-winning campaign at Nacional, Ronaldo went on a three day trial with Sporting which was an absolute success and in turn they signed him for an undisclosed sum.

Sporting Lisbon
Ronaldo joined Sporting’s other youth players who trained at the Alcochete, the club’s “football factory,” where he was given the best training, at one of the best academies in the world. In his first few months in Lisbon, he had to defend himself from the rest of the local players as they had taunted him over his Madeiran accent. A growth spurt had also slowed down the progress he had made at Sporting, however, Ronaldo eventually went on to become the only player in Sporting’s history to play for the Under-16, Under-17, Under-18, B team and first-team within a season, which shows the rapid development that Cristiano had during this season. Sporting realised that Ronaldo needed more support and arranged for his mother to join him, from Madeira. He scored two goals on his Sporting debut against Moreirense. He also featured for Portugal in the UEFA Under 17 Championships.

His performances at the UEFA Under 17 championship drew him to the attention of the wider football world. He was first spotted by former Liverpool coach Gérard 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, a decision that Liverpool would later regret. However, he came to the attention of Sir Alex Ferguson in the summer of 2003, when Sporting beat Manchester United 3-1 in the a pre season friendly. Ronaldo demonstrated his ability to play on both wings. His performance in the match impressed the Manchester United players, who spoke to their manager about a possible transfer bid for Ronaldo. What the players didn’t know, was that Sir Alex Ferguson had, been to a dinner the night before the game with the Sporting directors to thrash out a deal for the 17 year old wonderkid. The performance in this game though made the need for an immediate transfer more urgent and when Sir Alex Ferguson returned to Manchester he made the capture of this teenage footballing genius his number one target.

Manchester United
Ferguson decided that he wanted Ronaldo for his team, who were in the market for a right-sided midfielder with the departure of David Beckham to Real Madrid; Ronaldo was signed for a fee of £12.24 million, becoming the club’s first ever Portuguese player. Ronaldo was handed the number 7 shirt on his arrival, a shirt number that has belonged to some of the greatest Manchester United legends, such as George Best, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona and David Beckham. Ronaldo initially asked for the number 28 which he wore at Sporting, as he did not want the pressure of living up to the expectation linked to the number 7 shirt. “After I joined, the manager asked me what number I’d like. I said 28. But Ferguson said ‘no, you’re going to have No. 7′ and the famous shirt was an extra source of motivation. I was forced to live up to such an honour”.

Ronaldo made his debut for Manchester United as a 60th minute substitute against Bolton Wanderers at Old Trafford, a 4-0 Manchester United win. The thirty minutes that Ronaldo was on on the pitch this day created so much excitement at Old Trafford, and the general feeling was that they had a new hero. On 29 October 2005, Ronaldo scored Manchester United’s 1000th Premier League goal, in a 4-1 loss at the hands of Middlesbrough. He bagged a double twice in February, with two goals at home to Fulham and another pair at Fratton Park, and also scored in the following Premier League game against Wigan taking his tally to 8 Premier League goals. On 26 February 2006, Ronaldo played in the Carling Cup Final against Wigan in the Millennium Stadium at Cardiff, and scored a goal - taking his season’s tally to 10 goals. He was named FIFPro Special Young Player of the Year 2005, the only award to be voted for by fans. He received the same accolade the following year in 2006. He was also ranked 20th in the FIFA Player of the Year 2005 standings.

In 2006, a row between him and Ruud van Nistelrooy at the Carrington training ground intensified speculation about their roles at the club. However, Ronaldo signed a new deal with United that would last until 2010, and Van Nistelrooy was soon on his way out of Old Trafford, to Real Madrid. Ronaldo said of the deal, “United have stood by me and been there for me and I want to repay that”.

Despite the World Cup incident, Ronaldo remained popular with the Manchester United fans when he played (and scored) in his first Premier League match since the 2006 World Cup. Manchester United fans could clearly be heard chanting “there’s only one Ronaldo” at various points in the game, in a 5-1 win over Fulham F.C.. He won the Barclays Player of the Month for November 2006. By December 2006, Ronaldo had become one of United’s most influential players, scoring six goals in three league games to bring his overall tally up to 12 goals. He came on at half-time as a substitute against Wigan Athletic and immediately stamped his influence on the match with 2 goals in the space of a few minutes. Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson admitted he would lose his bet with the Portuguese star in his current form after setting a target of 15 goals for the season. The Scot remarked that he was “pleased for him because he works hard at his game. He’s still learning the game. His ability to pass the ball has helped him this season. His passing has been very good. That just shows he is maturing. He’s been fantastic, and he’s getting better all the time”. In December, he was awarded the Barclays Player of the Month Award for the second successive month, becoming the third ever player in the Premier League to do so (after Arsenal’s Dennis Bergkamp in 1997 and Robbie Fowler in 1996). Ronaldo scored his 50th goal for Manchester United in the game against arch-rivals Manchester City which turned out to be the decisive goal which helped Manchester United win the Premier League title for the first time in 4 years (Ronaldo’s first Premiership title).

As the end of each season approached, particularly in 2006 and 2007, it became traditional for rumours to start floating that Ronaldo was unsettled at Manchester United and wanted to play for Real Madrid - the rumours frequently originating from the board of Real Madrid who were reported in April 2007 to be willing to pay an world record fee of €80 million (£54 million) for Ronaldo. At the beginning of March 2007, however, Ronaldo, as well as Manchester United, confirmed that they would be negotiating an extension to his current contract. On 13 April 2007, Ronaldo signed a five-year, £120,000-a-week deal with United, making him the highest-paid player in United’s history. He said, “I am very happy at the club and I want to win trophies and hopefully we will do that this season”.

During the 2006-07 season, Ronaldo won the PFA Players’ Player of the Year and PFA Young Player of the Year awards. He received the two awards during a ceremony on the 22nd of April, 2007. In addition to winning the two awards (an accomplishment that has only been matched once - in 1977 by Andy Gray), Ronaldo was also named a member of the PFA Premier League Team of the Year, alongside seven of his fellow Manchester United teammates. On 24 April 2007, Ronaldo completed the treble by winning the PFA Fans’ Player of the Year, an award which is given by winning the most votes from fans all over the United Kingdom. In addition, he was awarded the 2007 Portuguese Footballer of the Year, and at the beginning of May 2007 Ronaldo was also awarded the Football Writers’ Association Award. He also received two awards from the club itself, the Player of the Year award, and the Fans’ Player of the Year award.

The 2006-07 was tainted with several diving incidents. During a match with Middlesbrough F.C., he was criticised for diving by rival manager Gareth Southgate. On 4 February 2007, in a match against Tottenham Hotspur F.C, Ronaldo was caught in yet another diving controversy, after winning United a controversial penalty despite seeming to receive little or no contact from Tottenham’s midfielder Steed Malbranque.

Ronaldo has occasionally had discipline issues during games. He was sent off in a game against Manchester City and received a one-match ban imposed by UEFA for a “one-fingered gesture” towards Benfica fans in a UEFA Champions League match in December 2005. While playing for Portugal in a friendly against Luxembourg he was given a yellow card for pushing Jeff Strasser in the throat in retaliation after Strasser tackled him. Felipe Scolari warned Ronaldo to keep his temper in check during the World Cup. Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off for an alleged headbutt of Portsmouth player Richard Hughes during United’s second match of the 2007-08 season, and was therefore banned for the subsequent three games. After the match, Sir Alex Ferguson claimed that Ronaldo had “fallen into the trap”. Ronaldo said he had “learned a lot” from the experience and would not let players “provoke” him in future.

Ronaldo’s 2007-08 season started badly with the sending off at Portsmouth. However, in his first game following the ban Ronaldo scored the only goal in the 60th minute of a Champions League away game against Sporting Lisbon on return to his old club. He was given a standing ovation by the Sporting supporters for his muted celebrations following the goal. Following this match, Ronaldo scored in the away fixture against Birmingham City F.C. The goalscoring continued with a double against Wigan Athletic. Ronaldo contributed three goals in both the home and away fixtures against Dynamo Kiev, a goal against Arsenal, and another brace against Blackburn Rovers. An injury time winner, coming from a free-kick in the home fixture against Sporting Lisbon led Manchester United to the top of the group in the UEFA Champions League[34]. On December 2, 2007, Ronaldo was officially announced as the runner up in the European Footballer of the Year standings, finishing behind the winner, Kaka, with 277 points. Ronaldo scored a match-winning double against Fulham F.C., one of which included a fantastic volleyed finish. He had also been booked for diving by referee Rob Styles when he went down under a challenge from Fulham’s goalkeeper, Antti Niemi. Sir Alex Ferguson had claimed that it “His reputation from years ago is still playing on the minds of referees. It was a ridiculous decision.”. In addition to his two late penalties in the home fixtures against Derby County and Everton he scored a free-kick just before half-time against Sunderland. On December 17 2007, it was officially announced that Ronaldo came in third in the FIFA World Player of the Year awards, finishing behind Kaká and Lionel Messi. In a 2-1 defeat in the away fixture against West Ham United F.C., Ronaldo scored in the match but missed a penalty, his first penalty miss of the season.

Ronaldo scored his first hat trick for Manchester United, in the 6-0 win against Newcastle United at Old Trafford on 12 January 2008, bringing Manchester United up to the top of English Premier League table. He scored with a free kick in the 49th minute and went on to score twice more in the 70th and 88th minutes of the match. The very next game, he scored the second goal in the last few minutes of the 2-0 win against Reading on 19 January 2008, bringing his goal tally to 23, equalling his tally for the whole of the 2006/2007 season.

On March 19, 2008, Ronaldo eclipsed George Best’s 40-year-old United record of the most goals scored by a midfielder in one season. Best had scored 32 times in the 1967-68 season. In a Premier League match against Bolton Wanderers at Old Trafford, Ronaldo was captain for Manchester United for the first time in his career in England; while donning the captain’s arm band, Ronaldo scored both goals in a 2-0 win for United. On April 9, 2008, it was reported that Real Madrid have decided to offer Manchester United a world-record £100million for Cristiano Ronaldo, a fee which was later turned down by the club. On May 11, 2008, Ronaldo scored from the penalty spot against Wigan Athletic in the 33rd minute, taking Ronaldo’s total for the season to 41 goals, 31 of those in the Premier League. Inspite of scoring from the spot in the Man Utd vs Wigan Athletic match, Ronaldo fell 3 goals short of Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s tally of 44 goals in a season which he did back in 2002/2003. 

After all the European countries seasons had finished Cristiano Ronaldo was confirmed as the highest goalscorer in Europe and in turn won the ESM Golden Shoe award.

Following his Premiership triumph there was only one match left in the season. 21st May 2008 was the Champions League final in Moscow. Manchester United vs Chelsea was a tight affair with the score poised at 1-1 after extra time with a Ronaldo header giving United the lead in the first half before Chelsea’s Lampard equalised just on the stroke of half time. With the penalty shoot out at 2-2 Ronaldo stepped up and missed his penalty. Luckily enough for 23 year old John Terry and Nicolas Anelka missed their penalties to give United a 6-5 win on penalties, and Ronaldo got his hands on first Champions League trophy.

Since the Champions league final, while Ronaldo was with the Portuguese camp prior to the Euro 2008 Championships there has been intense speculation that Ronaldo will leave and join up with Real Madrid. Speculation that gathered further momentum when he openly started courting a move to Real throughout the Championships and according to his Manchester United team mate Nani, he openly admitted to his Portuguese colleagues that he was wanting a move away from Old Trafford.

International career
Ronaldo had previously played for Portugal at the 2002 UEFA European Under-17 Championship and at the U18 and U21 level. He eventually made his full international debut in August 2003, coming on in the second half of a 1-0 victory against Kazakhstan. Ronaldo 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, with Greece once again emerging victorious. Even though Ronaldo could not add to his two goals, his performances at the tournament earned him a place in the team of the tournament.

Ronaldo then represented Portugal at the 2004 Summer Olympics, and was the second highest scorer in FIFA World Cup qualification in the European zone with 7 goals.

Ronaldo scored his first World Cup goal against Iran with a penalty kick. In the Round of 16, he left Portugal’s 1-0 win over Netherlands injured after a high tackle by former Chelsea defender Khalid Boulahrouz. However, he returned in the next match in the quarter - final against England.

Ronaldo was named the national team captain for the first time in a friendly match against Brazil on February 6, 2007, a day after his 22nd birthday. This move was in honour of the Portuguese Football Federation president, Carlos Silva, who had died two days before. Scolari explained, “Mr. Silva asked me to make him captain as a gesture. He thought the English fans would give him a difficult time and this was a response. He is too young to be captain but Mr. Silva asked me and now he is no longer with us.”

Ronaldo scored a total of 8 goals in Portugal’s UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying campaign.[54] On June 11, 2008, he scored the second goal for Portugal and provided an assist for the third goal scored by Ricardo Quaresma against the Czech Republic in Geneva, during the Group stages of UEFA Euro 2008 which ensured Portugal’s qualification into the quarter finals of the competition. [55] And in the quarterfinal against Germany, he performed well and created an assist for Nuno Gomes, but failed to save his team from being knocked out by Germany.

World Cup incident - 2006
On 8 July 2006, after the sending off of United team-mate Wayne Rooney for stamping on Ricardo Carvalho in the Quarter Final of the 2006 World Cup between England and Portugal, there was much speculation in the English media that he had influenced Rooney’s red card by complaining aggressively to the referee. He was also seen in replays winking to the Portuguese bench after Rooney’s dismissal. Ronaldo has said that Rooney was a friend, and that he was not trying to get Rooney a red card. Rooney said, “I bear no ill feeling to Cristiano but am disappointed that he chose to get involved. I suppose I do, though, have to remember that on that particular occasion we were not team-mates.” However, on 4 July, Elizondo told The Times that the red card was due to the stamp on Carvalho, and not the scuffle afterwards. He said “It was violent play and therefore he got a red card. People can say what they want (about Ronaldo) but this had absolutely no influence. For me it was a clear red card, so I didn’t react to the Portuguese players.”

The Sun published a dart board with a picture of Ronaldo as the bull’s-eye in a similar fashion to the one made after the 1998 World Cup for David Beckham by The Daily Mirror. The angry reaction in England forced Ronaldo to consider leaving United. After the incident, he told reporters that he thought he “should get out of Manchester as the circumstances are not right to keep playing there”. He allegedly told the Spanish sports daily Marca that he wished to move to Real Madrid.

In response to the speculation, Sir Alex Ferguson sent his assistant manager Carlos Queiroz to speak to Ronaldo in Portugal, hoping to change the young player’s mind, whilst Rooney also pleaded with Ronaldo not to leave the team. Ronaldo chose to stay on at United and signed a new five-year contract months later.

Ronaldo was booed by some French and English fans during Portugal’s semi-final defeat against France, and missed out on the tournament’s Best Young Player award, partly due to an e-mail campaign against him by England fans. Though the online vote only affected the nomination process, FIFA Technical Study Group awarded the honours to Germany’s Lukas Podolski, citing Ronaldo’s behaviour as a factor.