Red hot Ronaldinho
Ronaldinho should have had his fill of tributes by now but he must have allowed himself a wry celebration on Monday night. The inspiration of the enthrallingly exotic Barcelona side mounted the podium in a city where he once sat on the bench. The Brazilian was back in Paris to be enthroned as the 2005 European Footballer of the Year, the 50th winner of the Ballon d'Or. When he actually played in France, it was sometimes hard for him to come by a kind word, let alone an honour.
As Ronaldinho was being feted at a venue close to the Place de la Concorde he might just have thought back to a time when what he needed most was an injury to Romain Rocchi. The defensive midfielder, who now aims to fend off relegation for Ajaccio, was one of the players intermittently preferred to Ronaldinho in the Paris Saint-Germain line-up. The man now acclaimed by a continent was quite often denied the approval of his coach only two or three years ago.
A conciliatory Luis Fernandez, perhaps with tongue in cheek, now suggests that he was protecting a fragile talent by rationing his appearances. In fact he was annoyed and exasperated by Ronaldinho, who danced away from regulations as smoothly as he swerves past defenders. This was the sort of star who was forever rumoured to have dropped sleep from his schedule so that he could go direct from Parisian night spot to training ground. Gossip was no doubt on speaking terms with the truth.
It is certainly a matter of record that Ronaldinho returned days late from a trip to Rio. He was also snapped cursing Fernandez when he was substituted in a match with Nantes. Even in that period, though, the cameras could dote on him as well, especially when he scored in a 3-0 win at Marseille a goal that he recreated at an even grander venue 10 days ago. Breaking from his own half in the Bernabéu, he flowed past Iván Helguera and Sergio Ramos before planting a shot into the far corner of the net. A similar goal from him nudged Barcelona's margin of triumph to 3-0 and ripped acclaim out of the throats of the Real Madrid fans.
Nothing is beyond him now and he has even taken to making a stylish correction of any fleeting error. Ronaldinho did see a penalty saved on Sunday, but that failure merely set the stage for the one that was awarded later. The goalkeeper's reaction can only have amounted to a flicker of the eye as the ball was whipped high to his right in a 4-1 win over Racing Santander.
As Ronaldinho was being feted at a venue close to the Place de la Concorde he might just have thought back to a time when what he needed most was an injury to Romain Rocchi. The defensive midfielder, who now aims to fend off relegation for Ajaccio, was one of the players intermittently preferred to Ronaldinho in the Paris Saint-Germain line-up. The man now acclaimed by a continent was quite often denied the approval of his coach only two or three years ago.
A conciliatory Luis Fernandez, perhaps with tongue in cheek, now suggests that he was protecting a fragile talent by rationing his appearances. In fact he was annoyed and exasperated by Ronaldinho, who danced away from regulations as smoothly as he swerves past defenders. This was the sort of star who was forever rumoured to have dropped sleep from his schedule so that he could go direct from Parisian night spot to training ground. Gossip was no doubt on speaking terms with the truth.
It is certainly a matter of record that Ronaldinho returned days late from a trip to Rio. He was also snapped cursing Fernandez when he was substituted in a match with Nantes. Even in that period, though, the cameras could dote on him as well, especially when he scored in a 3-0 win at Marseille a goal that he recreated at an even grander venue 10 days ago. Breaking from his own half in the Bernabéu, he flowed past Iván Helguera and Sergio Ramos before planting a shot into the far corner of the net. A similar goal from him nudged Barcelona's margin of triumph to 3-0 and ripped acclaim out of the throats of the Real Madrid fans.
Nothing is beyond him now and he has even taken to making a stylish correction of any fleeting error. Ronaldinho did see a penalty saved on Sunday, but that failure merely set the stage for the one that was awarded later. The goalkeeper's reaction can only have amounted to a flicker of the eye as the ball was whipped high to his right in a 4-1 win over Racing Santander.
posted by AKEmarmota at 8:50 AM
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