Ronaldo: The ultimate footballer who transcended the barriers of Italy's hottest rivalry
Football is the most tribal sport on earth and can become much more than just a game to the most passionate of fans. Winning and losing determines so much in a person’s life, from a player or coach to an ordinary fan on the street. For something that perhaps shouldn’t have such an impact, football can feel like a religion to some. Players can be like gods, or even family, but only if they are on the ‘good’ side.
Rivalries appear as everything, with the opposition billed as the enemy. There is nothing worse than a player who crosses serious divides within the game, playing for both sides in a derby. In relative terms, it rarely happens, mainly because very few ever want to face the consequences that, at the very least, equates to a hostile reception upon their return.
In Serie A on Saturday lunchtime, one of the biggest derbies in world football will write a new chapter. The Derby della Madonnina, between Inter and Milan, is one of the most intense and unique clashes in football for so many reasons.
Two clubs who may live together by sharing a stadium, the irrepressible San Siro, but have completely different attitudes on football and how it should be played.
Simplistically, Inter, short for Internazionale or International, believe themselves to be a club of the world. Milan, though, prefer to look inward for inspiration and take much more pride in developing players at their Milanello training base, before helping them stay at the top for many years.
The stadium is not all they have shared, either. Hostility can feel much more intense when confined to a city, but that hasn’t stopped a number of players bucking the trend and pulled on the shirts for both the Nerazzurri and the Rossoneri over the years.
Andrea Pirlo had a thre-year spell at Inter before spending a decade at Milan; Clarence Seedorf was there for two years before making the exact same move. It may be easy to forget, but Christian Vieri had a short spell wearing red and black after a six-year career in the blue and black.
Each of these were more successful with one than the other, and as such are not remembered fondly by the collective. Not everyone follows the same unwritten rules of football, in fact some can completely ignore them and maintain a sense of adulation and popularity others can only snarl at enviously.
Ronaldo, the Brazilian striker, encapsulated this more than most, as one of only two players to score for both teams in the derby. The other was Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but the same cannot be said for the Swede.
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Upon arrival at San Siro for the first time, joining Inter from Barcelona in 1997, Ronaldo was greeted like a hero. Hoards of fans appeared at the stadium for his grand unveiling and, for the most part, he was able to repay that faith on the pitch, scoring 49 goals in just 68 Serie A games for the club despite a five-year stay.
Pace, skill and strength were on show in perhaps the most remarkable way ever seen, and it made Ronaldo football’s first modern megastar.
A serious knee ligament injury almost ended his career in 1998, keeping him out for two years. But scoring in many derbies, winning the Ballon d’Or the very year he signed and guiding them to the UEFA Cup before getting sidelined, made it easy to see why so many Inter fans took Ronaldo to their hearts.
Respect for the striker was clear, even from the other side of town. Milan defender, and future teammate, Paolo Maldini waxed lyrical about Ronaldo saying: “During his first two years at Inter, Ronaldo was phenomenal.” His nickname throughout his career, derived from his native Brazil, was O Fenômeno – “The Phenomenon”.
He showed why he was so universally popular in the build up to his departure from Inter. The diagnostics of his knee injury were not good, but he worked hard to return for the 2002 World Cup.
Not only did he make it, but by scoring eight goals in Japan and South Korea, including two in the final against Germany, on the way to the Selecao’s fifth triumph, earned himself a £25million move to Real Madrid.
He left Italy as a superstar but returned, another five years later, a shadow of his former self. Ironically, by moving to Los Blancos, he crossed another line by joining former club Barcelona’s eternal enemy, but he did so without the everlasting backlash afforded to Luis Figo after he made arguably the most controversial transfer ever in 2000.
Ronaldo was not the same at the Santiago Bernabeu as he had been at either Barcelona or Inter. In his late 20s, the time every striker should be at their peak, the Brazilian was reshaping his game. He could no longer combine the pace with his quick feet, meaning his already devastating finishing had to be that much better.
The determination he’d shown earlier in his career eventually deteriorated and when he arrived back at San Siro, on the other side of the fence, his weight had ballooned and there was a distinct feeling he was in decline.
But still, it was impossible to hate Ronaldo. He had brought so much joy to so many people throughout his career, only six months earlier breaking the record of World Cup goals by netting his 15th in Germany. While he clearly had a preference for a party over training, his infectious smile and love for a joke meant even the most battle-hardened of his teammates couldn’t turn against him, let alone the fans.
At Milan, Ronaldo scored nine goals in 20 league games, before a recurrence of that knee injury ended his career in Europe. That meeting with Inter in March 2007 is often forgotten, mainly because after giving them the lead, his former club came back to win 2-1, courtesy of an Ibrahimovic goal.
Football often feels like a matter of life or death, full of love and hate. Milan face Inter once again this weekend and the atmosphere will be as hostile as ever. But not everyone deserves that. Ronaldo is the man who played for four of the game’s most bitter rivals and would still receive a free drink from any of them today.