By the time Cristiano Ronaldo was 12 years old, the decision had been made for him to leave his home on the island of Madeira and move to the Portuguese capital of Lisbon. Here was a boy, who shared a bedroom with his three siblings, the son of a hospitality cleaner and a father who was a war veteran and struggled with alcoholism, ready to take his first main step into the unknown.
There were obstacles when he arrived at Sporting CP’s youth academy. Plenty of them. Ronaldo, in fact, struggled with school so much that he was once expelled for throwing a chair at a teacher. He eventually persuaded his mother the unthinkable— that education was not a priority and essentially, he pleaded with her and his Sporting tutor to allow him to quit and focus on football alone. It was obviously a gamble.
He has even said it before. Had he not become a professional footballer, due to leaving school so early, Ronaldo had probably envisioned a life as a local fisherman.
Then there was the heart problem. At 15, he was diagnosed with tachycardia — a condition that caused an abnormally fast heart rate—even whilst he rested. This prompted surgery that eventually delivered a full recovery but regardless, it was a terrifying situation for a young kid to deal with. But the surgery was successful and from that moment on, Cristiano Ronaldo’s full story began.
Here’s the other fact that most people forget. Ronaldo is not his last name. It’s Dos Santos Aveiro. Ronaldo was a name given by his father in honor of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
I presume it’s only right for Cristiano to have the name as Ronaldo, because like Reagan, he is known for being deeply disciplined with a slightly detached strategy against opponents. Like Reagan, a former actor, Ronaldo has also never been one to shy away from the limelight and that’s essentially what turned him into the player he ultimately became.
(Photo by Philipp Schmidli/Getty Images)
There is a perfection to Ronaldo’s football that is both inspiring and overwhelming. His search for an omnipotent identity has always been his greatest strength and at times, his Achilles hee. Whilst Lionel Messi’s diminutive stature and introspective personality captivated fans from one dimension, Ronaldo’s focus was a flawless pursuit of impeccable athleticism and force. His training regime and eating habits are ludicrous to you or me, but it’s his obsession with discipline that gave him this 23-year career on the international stage.
With regard to his actual game, I have always said that Ronaldo, to me, is the greatest goalscorer and finisher the men’s game will ever witness. And this, my friends, is the hardest job in football. To score goals.
His 146 goals for Portugal, each one of them, were gigantic statements. Even the penalties. It’s why he celebrates with “SIUUUU” – an exaggerated expression of “si” — the Spanish and Portuguese word for yes. The celebration is an acceptance of grandiosity. A door of pomposity where the stadium, in unison, coronates him after landing on the ground after the 180 degree jump.
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