Ronaldinho: Turning heads until the end
I remember sitting in a bar in Sao Paulo with friends late one muggy evening, sipping on a refreshingly cold beer whilst a game of football blared from 5 different screens dotted around the excessively air-conditioned bar. As a lover of all things football, I was paying more attention to the game than most locals, as neither team playing was Sao Paulo-based.
And whilst no one really had much interest in the Campeonato Mineiro game that was taking place in a somewhat unimportant tie, within a somewhat mickey-mouse state tournament, something fascinating would happen every a minute or so, that made almost everyone in the bar glance towards the nearest screen…. the commentator would mention the name ‘Ronaldinho’.
Ronaldinho had returned to Brazil after an impressive career for some of European football's biggest clubs, and whilst he was far from his best, he still possessed moments of magic and brilliance that had ignited a mesmeric, albeit it short and dazzling career.
Ronaldinho was a player you couldn’t take your eyes off when he had possession of the ball. He played with a child-like enjoyment, that is so rarely seen outside of quadras or jumpers-as-goalpost kickabouts in the park.
So when the commentator mentioned his name, almost uncontrollably, seemingly without realising it themselves, people's sights was turned to the screen, in anticipation of something; a seemingly impossible turn away from two defenders who had boxed him in at the corner flag, a feint touch that split the deepest of lying defences wide open, or a chapeu, dink over an onrushing opponent’s head, only to control the ball on the other side – one of the most humiliating moves an offensive player can produce, and one that is always greeted with ‘whoops’, applause and ‘ole’s‘ from spectators.
Ronaldinho retired a couple of weeks ago. In truth, though, the Ronaldinho we all know and love, who brought the Bernabeu to it’s feet in astounded applause, who stunned Stamford Bridge with one the cheekiest and most brilliant of Champions League goals, and who broke the hearts of England with that inch-perfect audacious freekick, had long been finished from the heights of his game.
Whilst for our generation, Ronaldinho may not quite gain the status of the likes of Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, at his peak, on his day, there was no one better; no one more capable of the seemingly impossible, no one who turned heads in sweaty Sao Paulo bars at just the mention of his name, and no one who produced so many smiles from just doing what he loved.