Cristiano Ronaldo

Belmont, Belcourt Biographies

Description

Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the greatest soccer players of his generation. Most fans are aware of his successes for Real Madrid and the Portuguese national team, but in order to truly understand Cristiano Ronaldo, you must first understand where he came from. "Cristiano Ronaldo: An Unauthorized Biography" explores Ronaldo's upbringing and details his breakthrough onto the world stage, all the way through Real Madrid's La Liga title in 2012. Ronaldo's exceptional talents have fans and critics alike wondering where his career will take him next. Inside, you will discover where it all started and learn why so many fans love Ronaldo so much. From family to soccer to the future, all you need to know about Cristiano Ronaldo is right here, right now, in the most up to date coverage of Cristiano Ronaldo's life.This book also includes all of Cristiano Ronaldo's statistics.

Sujets

• Bibliographies
• Bibliography

Informations

• Publié par: Belmont & Belcourt Books
• Date de parution: 03 juin 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781619841734
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

C RISTIANO R ONALDO
An Unauthorized Biography
Copyright © 2012 by Belmont & Belcourt Biographies
All rights reserved. Neither this book nor any parts within it may be sold or reproduced in any form without permission.
eISBN: 9781619841734
Table of Contents
Introduction
Youth Career
Sporting Lisbon
Manchester United
Real Madrid
National Career
Personal Life
Statistics
Introduction
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro is his full name, but he is much more commonly known as Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the greatest soccer players of the current generation. He is a professional soccer player who currently plays for Real Madrid in the Spanish La Liga, and his career has been a rapid progression from the days when he was kicking a ball in his small tin-roofed shack in Madeira, Portugal.
Although Ronaldo’s family was extremely poor when he was young, his hard work and determination have steadily pulled him out of the life of struggling to live in Portugal and made him one of the most highly-paid players in sports today.
His ability to play soccer has always been more attack-minded. In his early days, he was an out-and-out winger and his pace was his main strength; however, as he went through his career, he started to become a larger threat further forward in advanced positions established at English Premier League club, Manchester United. He has been labelled by many as the greatest soccer player of this era but, with Lionel Messi close by in Barcelona, many believe the two cancel each other out. Ronaldo’s added ability to be dangerous in the air has caused many people to believe he is the best all-around player and gives him a professional edge over Lionel Messi.
Ronaldo was born on February 5, 1985 and first began playing soccer for Andorinha’s youth team at the age of eight. His first team played in the fourth tier of Portuguese soccer, so it was not a particularly massive club that he first represented.
As his talent was being recognized at Andorinha, fellow Portuguese club C.D Nacional decided to offer him a place on their books in 1995 and he spent 2 years there before making his first big switch to Sporting CP at the age of 12. It was at Sporting CP that his technical abilities on the ball started to gain worldwide recognition, and as he made his way through the youth system at Sporting CP, he started to become more established within the first team. His performance against Manchester United in a pre-season friendly game earned him a move to the England giants.
On recommendation from a majority of the Manchester United players who faced him, manager Sir Alex Ferguson decided to pay £12.24 million for him in 2003. He went on to become hugely successful for Manchester United as he started to develop into one of the world’s greatest players. He won numerous personal and collective awards, including the UEFA Champions League top scorer in 2008.
He eventually earned a move to the Spanish club Real Madrid who were clearly close to his heart with his Portuguese/Spanish links. Real Madrid had to pay a fee of £80 million for the transfer, which remains the current world record for a transfer fee in soccer. He has enjoyed a couple of seasons at Real Madrid which include winning the La Liga in 2012 for his first La Liga title.
Youth Career
Ronaldo was born in Santo Antonio, in the Madeira region of Portugal. His upbringing was tough, as his father was a regular drinker. His father was the main influence for his name, as Jose Dinis Aveiro was a big fan of the actor Ronald Regan.
He is the youngest child of Maria Dolores dos Santos Aveiro, who also gave birth to another son, Hugo, and two daughters, Elma and Liliana Catia, before Cristiano was born. Ronaldo’s mother worked as a cook when she was not looking after him and his brother and sisters. The finances for the household were minimal and, as well as being a cook, Maria was also a part-time cleaner to help raise desperately-needed funds to feed her children.
Ronaldo’s time at school was a struggle. He wasn’t a particularly good student and didn’t work hard in his lessons, but during his breaks he regularly kicked a ball around with his friends. This is where his passion for soccer really began.
His obsession for the game began to increase every day and it got to the stage where his mother would hide anything in the house that was sphere-shaped because he would play soccer with any round objects. Every day, when he got back from school, he was determined to play soccer on his own or with his friends rather than watching TV or doing homework.
His father, Jose Dinis Aveiro, was a local gardener in their village of Santo Antonio but also had links with local amateur club, Andorinha, where he was the kit man. Santo Antonio was next door to Andorinha, so it made sense for him to play there for his first club. Ronaldo’s family didn’t have much money and transportation costs to Andorinha were low.
Andorinha was an unknown club based in Funchal. He was greatly appreciative for having been introduced to the team as he just wanted to play soccer every single hour of the day and the chance at Andorinha gave him the opportunity to showcase what he does best.
Ronaldo’s ability was overshadowed at times when his friends at Andorinha used to constantly tease him when he cried. He was upset and angry when he passed the ball to his teammates who would then lose the ball; however, despite his rather strange behavior, C.D National approached Ronaldo’s father to request that Ronaldo go and train with them.
C.D Nacional was the professional club of Funchal, Madeira, where Ronaldo was living, so it made the most logical sense for him to train with the club that offered him a much sterner challenge with players similar to his ability. In his first season, C.D Nacional won the kids’ championship in which he was representing, and the second season he was offered a trial with top Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon.
CS Maritimo also expressed a big interest in Ronaldo to his parents and, at the time, it was a much bigger side in Portugal.