Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro,
[2] OIH, (born 5 February 1985),
[3] commonly known as
Cristiano Ronaldo, is a Portuguese
footballer who plays as a
winger or
striker for Spanish
La Liga club
Real Madrid and is the captain of the
Portuguese national team. Ronaldo became the most expensive footballer in history after moving from
Manchester United to Real Madrid in a
transfer
worth £80 million (€94 million). In addition, his contract with Real
Madrid, in which he is paid €12 million per year, makes him one of the
highest-paid footballers in the world,
[4] and his buyout clause is valued at €1000 million (€1 billion, in English usage), as per his contract.
[5]
Ronaldo began his career as a youth player for
Andorinha, where he played for two years, before moving to
C.D. Nacional. In 1997, he made a move to Portuguese giants
Sporting Clube de Portugal. Ronaldo's precocious talent caught the attention of
Manchester United manager
Alex Ferguson, who signed him for £12.24 million (€15 million) in 2003. The following season, Ronaldo won his first club honour, the
FA Cup. He also played at
Euro 2004 with Portugal and scored his first international goal in the opening game of the tournament against
Greece, in addition to helping Portugal reach
the final. He was featured in the
UEFA Euro All-Star Team of this competition.
Ronaldo was the first player to win all four main
PFA and
FWA awards, doing so in 2007. He was third in the
2007 FIFA World Player of the Year award and second in the
2007 Ballon d'Or award. In 2008, Ronaldo won the
Champions League with United, was named
best forward and
player of the tournament and was the
competition's top goalscorer as well as winning the
European Golden Shoe, becoming the first winger to do so, and topping the
Premier League Golden Boot award. He won three of the four main
PFA and
FWA trophies, only missing the
PFA Young Player of the Year, and was named the
FIFPro,
World Soccer,
Onze d'Or,
[6][7][8] and the
FIFA World Player of the Year, in addition to becoming Manchester United's first
Ballon d'Or winner in 40 years.
[9] Ronaldo holds the distinction of being the first player to win the
FIFA Puskás Award, in 2009, an honour handed by
FIFA to the best goal of the year. He scored that goal from 40 yards out against
Porto in a
UEFA Champions League quarter-final match, while playing for Manchester United.
[10] Three-time
Ballon d'Or winner
Johan Cruyff said in an interview on 2 April 2008, "Ronaldo is better than
George Best and
Denis Law, who were two brilliant and great players in the history of United."
[11] He was second in the
2009 FIFA World Player of the Year award and also second in the
2009 Ballon d'Or award.
Ronaldo became the highest goalscorer in a season in the history of
Real Madrid with 53 goals, surpassing the club's previous high of 49 by
Ferenc Puskás. Six days later, Ronaldo broke the record of most goals ever scored in a season in
La Liga with 40, surpassing
Telmo Zarra's and
Hugo Sánchez's
mark (38 goals) established in 1951 and 1990, respectively. Ronaldo
also broke Zarra's record of most goals per minute, with a goal scored
every 70.7 minutes. The newspaper
Marca, the official deliverer of the
Pichichi Trophy (the top
La Liga goalscorer award), claimed that Ronaldo scored 41 goals (
Marca assigned one more goal to Ronaldo than
La Liga, which attributed it to
Pepe). By doing so, he won the
European Golden Shoe
award once again, becoming the first player to win the trophy in two
different championships. Ronaldo officially broke his previous record of
40 goals in a
La Liga season in the
2011-2012 season. He was third in the 2010–11
UEFA Best Player in Europe Award, behind
Lionel Messi and
Xavi, and second in the
2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or, behind Messi and ahead of Xavi. On March 24, 2012, with the first of two goals scored in the match against
Real Sociedad, Ronaldo became the fastest
La Liga player to score 100 goals in the league.
[12]
Ronaldo has been described as a skillful winger who will take on any
defender with his dribbling and pace; and who possesses a powerful,
accurate free-kick and crossing ability. Ronaldo is able to score with
his head and feet.
[13]