Читать книгу Cristiano Ronaldo - Matt Oldfield - Страница 6

CRISTIANO RONALDO DOS Santos Aveiro was born on 5 February 1985 to parents Maria Dolores and Jose Dinis. He is the youngest of four children, joining sisters Cátia and Elma and brother Hugo; this family unit offered Cristiano stability throughout his youth.

He grew up in the town of Santo Antonio in Funchal, the capital of Portuguese island Madeira. Funchal has a population of approximately 104,000 and is named after its mass production of fennel (‘funcho’ in Portuguese). His upbringing could not be described as privileged, despite his proximity to some of Funchal’s more prosperous areas, including the lavish hotels on the seafront. The family bungalow was rather small, making conditions cramped at home – in fact the house was so crowded that the washing machine was kept on the roof. Ronaldo spent plenty of time with his siblings, who remember a very happy childhood with him. Cristiano always had a smile on his face.

His mother, Dolores, worked as a cleaner while Dinis, his father, was a council gardener. It was a humble beginning for Ronaldo but it taught him the value of family and the importance of hard work. He developed a strong bond with his parents – he quotes his mother as his greatest support and inspiration – and both encouraged him to become involved in football and to make the most of his considerable talents. His parents had marked him out for stardom. The ‘Ronaldo’ part of his name is taken from the US President Ronald Reagan – not through his parents’ love of politics but because Cristiano’s father admired Reagan’s acting ability. Perhaps he was destined to find fame. Also, it just so happened that a young Brazilian would later burst onto the world stage and make the name Ronaldo famous.

However, despite his tightly knit family, growing up was not easy for Cristiano. His father suffered with a drinking problem that put a strain on daily life and caused a lot of pain for those close to him. As Dolores told the Daily Mirror, ‘Time and time again Cristiano offered to pay to get him treatment but Dinis kept on drinking.’ Dinis’s dependence on alcohol was a worrying situation that stayed with Ronaldo throughout his childhood.

The problem would eventually escalate to the point where Dolores felt that Dinis could not be helped and so the pair decided to separate. Although the split was amicable and both continued to live in Funchal, the difficulties in his parents’ marriage deeply affected Ronaldo. Being away from Madeira at the time, the news was even harder to take.

Cristiano was blessed with sporting ability from a young age and he grew up in a family that encouraged this – his father followed football with great interest. Ronaldo’s skinny, athletic frame ensured that he was rarely far from a ball during his early days and his family soon knew that a career in sport was going to be the likely future for him. His energy would not fit well with other professions and he lived for the thrill of competition.

Football became a driving force in his formative years. Scattered around Funchal, dusty football courts and pitches provided Ronaldo with his first sporting experiences. It was fiercely competitive, as Cristiano sought to outperform his friends. Yet the nature of the matches – informal and pressure-free – allowed the youngsters to develop their own strengths and style of play. There was no tension and no one told him what he should or shouldn’t do on the pitch. Ronaldo would do whatever it took to fit in an extra game of football, whether that was skipping meals at home, sneaking out of his bedroom window or simply spending hours out in the summer sun on the football court in search of a match.

In England, talented youngsters are joining academies at increasingly young ages and the emphasis is on getting the basics right. Many have accused domestic clubs of ignoring flair in favour of a more traditional approach. Other countries certainly appear to develop more flamboyant, skilful youngsters and maybe the street football culture that Cristiano grew up with has an impact on this. Looking back a little further into the history of British football, many of the best players learned their trade in street football. After all, there are countless stories of George Best’s displays in the streets of Belfast. This element has been lost since the notion of academies has emerged in Britain.

Ronaldo’s neighbours were older boys who inevitably represented team-mates and opponents in informal kickabouts. Despite being younger, his fierce will to win meant he never gave an inch against bigger, stronger players. It is a familiar story among professional footballers – a childhood spent playing against much older boys – and it stood him in good stead for future challenges. Even before he joined his first youth team, he was a regular on a makeshift football court in his hometown. On the hard surface of the local court, Ronaldo experienced those initial feelings inspired by football – camaraderie, the joy of victory, the pain of defeat.

As his godfather Fernao Sousa observed, while Ronaldo was like any other youngster in terms of character, on the football pitch he was streets ahead. Sousa told the BBC, ‘He was better at football than the other kids, he had better control, better kicking, better dribbling.’ So often – too often – players are said to have a natural, God-given talent. In Ronaldo’s case it is undeniable and he himself acknowledges that his skills are a quality that he was born with. The quickness of his feet combined with his co-ordination and balance made him a joy to watch, even as a boy on the courts of Funchal.

As is often the case with talented young footballers, Ronaldo quickly began playing for an amateur team, CF Andorinha. For him, this was the beginning of an incredible journey. His father doubled as the team kit man and was able to watch Cristiano’s progress up close, full of pride – the pair were inseparable. Ronaldo learned plenty of valuable lessons there that would serve him well for the bigger stage. Working with a coach at Andorinha taught Cristiano plenty about the tactical side of the sport. He worked hard to improve the weaker areas of his game while maintaining his irrepressible desire to win and entertain at every possible opportunity.

While subconsciously he may have held ambitions for a wider audience, seeing the young Ronaldo in the green of Andorinha was to catch sight of a boy on cloud nine and in love with the game. Immediately, his dribbling and technique made him stand out and his colleagues found Ronaldo a formidable opponent. Frequently, opposition defenders were left cursing him after being humiliated by his footwork. His pace was also an asset that he developed early and it gave him an added advantage over others.

As well as his greater natural talent, his attitude to his football stood out as very different. No game was a mere kickabout to him – his desire to win at every opportunity marked him out as a future professional and would be crucial in his quick improvements. His determination was there for all to see and his first ever football coach, Sardinha Afonso, remembers him as a ‘fighter’. Speaking to the BBC, Club President of Andorinha, Rui Santos, added, ‘He had many qualities but mainly it was his disgust at losing a match.’ Losing became harder and harder to take as Cristiano moved up the levels of youth football.

It was only a matter of time before big things happened for Ronaldo. Reflecting on what football means to him, he says, ‘Football for me is synonymous with happiness and spectacle. That’s what I try to show. I don’t know how to explain the tricks, they’re just part of me.’ This approach to the sport allows Cristiano to play with a smile on his face, despite the obvious pressure that comes with a career as a professional footballer.

At the age of ten, he had attracted the attention of Madeira’s top sides. His performances for Andorinha had been good and his natural talent was there for all to see. As is normal in the world of football, any star performer at a small club quickly attracts the attention of the bigger, more powerful clubs. Ronaldo’s case was no different. It is reflective of the state of football today that even ten-year-olds – and plenty even younger – are coveted by top clubs hoping to unearth the next child sensation. While Ronaldo had the support of his parents, everything was moving extremely fast for him.

Both Maritimo and Nacional – the two main clubs on the island – expressed an interest in Ronaldo and he was naturally flattered by the attention. This was serious business and, even for a ten-year-old, the path towards professional football was becoming evident. Maritimo made the first move, setting up a meeting with the Andorinha manager, Rui Santos. But when the Maritimo manager missed the meeting, it was decided that Ronaldo’s future lay at Nacional. Maritimo would rue missing that opportunity for years to come.

When he signed for Nacional, he could have been forgiven for thinking that he would enjoy a lengthy stint at the club, furthering his football education. His school education had long since been discarded as a lower priority. Those who knew him well advised him to follow his football dreams – he had a gift for football, not further education. But to Ronaldo’s surprise, his youth career in Madeira came to an abrupt end when he was just 12 years old. After just two years with Nacional, he was on his way to the mainland, heading for Lisbon. While Porto and Boavista had also expressed admiration for Cristiano, Nacional owed money to Portuguese giants Sporting Lisbon for a player called Franco and, rather than pay the debt, the island club opted to send Ronaldo, in whom Sporting were interested after a short trial. For the youngster, it was a big decision to make and Nacional probably thought they had only let a fairly promising player leave – there would be plenty more like him, they reasoned. But if there is one thing to say about Ronaldo, it is that there is no one like him.

This was a major transition in his life. It would have been a big moment for any player but for a 12-year-old it was monumental. He had to leave Madeira and his family behind and enter an unfamiliar city on the mainland. He told the documentary Planeta Ronaldo (aired on Portuguese TV), ‘It was very traumatic to leave my family. I had never even been on an aeroplane before. When I saw my mother crying at the airport, it made me want to cry as well.’ He could never have imagined leaving home at such a young age and it was all very hard to take in. Part of him knew it would benefit his quest to become a professional footballer, but another part feared the heart-wrenching absence of the comfort blanket that his family provided.

Alone in Lisbon, he experienced the most emotionally testing years of his life. It is a moving story of the sacrifices necessary to forge a career in sport and a reality check for those that think everything comes easily for professional footballers. Lisbon was louder, busier and more threatening than Ronaldo had anticipated, and his team-mates struggled to understand his accent, inevitably leading to teasing and the feeling of being an outsider. He struggled to understand and be understood. He lived with 10 other young hopefuls in accommodation provided by the club but it was a far from easy transition.

Lisbon presented dangers, too. It could be a scary place for a young boy, especially at night. In his documentary, Ronaldo recalls one particular incident that took place on the city’s busy roads, ‘A gang jumped on me and my team-mates in the street. The other players ran away but I stood up and fought – and the robbers didn’t get anything.’ Apparently, Cristiano was elusive and unstoppable even at that age!

With his family miles away, he suffered desperately from homesickness and recalls the anguish of watching his credit tick down in the phone box. For someone so attached to his family it was a tough beginning to his Lisbon adventure, and a period that taught him a lot about survival. His determined, ambitious streak was tested to the full when times were tough. His godfather, Sousa, recalls a time when Ronaldo came back from Lisbon and had no intention of returning. Cristiano had had enough of that lifestyle and he wanted to move back to Madeira. Sousa spoke with Ronaldo’s parents and urged them to persuade him to go back to Sporting, knowing that his godson had a big future in football and could not throw in the towel yet.

Sporting did all they could to make Cristiano feel comfortable in Lisbon. Sensing that homesickness was eating away at their young player, they were as accommodating as they could be, paying for Dolores, Ronaldo’s mother, to fly to visit him. His family had always played a huge role in his life and it was a tactic that succeeded for Sporting, who were close to releasing Cristiano due to his unhappiness. Dolores gave Ronaldo a huge boost, making him more cheerful, confident and settled. It was a reassuring reminder of home and the pride felt by all his family and friends.

Ronaldo explains in his documentary: ‘There were a lot of tears in my first few weeks in Lisbon. Madeira is so small. I couldn’t believe the traffic and noise of a capital city. I used to call my family whenever I could.’ Cristiano was forced to become independent and fend for himself. While he had plenty of senior figures to turn to at the club, he was largely left to make his own decisions. It was a testing time, but it was pivotal in Ronaldo’s development.

The desire to win – ingrained in him from his earliest days in football – kept him going. As he puts it in Planeta Ronaldo, ‘No matter how bad things got, I had this burning dream.’ He would not let any obstacle block his path. Having overcome the homesickness, there was a sense that he had beaten the most challenging opponent and that stardom and the Sporting senior team now beckoned. He was still physically small and very skinny but he had pace and skill – vital commodities for any winger. A former coach remembers not only Ronaldo’s will to win but also the effect that he had on his team-mates. Ronaldo cried, shouted and fussed when results did not go his team’s way, but this reaction appeared to energise his colleagues, getting a reaction from them and inspiring them to follow his example on the pitch.

Cristiano’s competitive nature is also confirmed by Portuguese international goalkeeper Ricardo, in his book Diary of a Dream, ‘Whether it is ping-pong, table football, darts or snooker, he does not let up. If there are people who were born for the game and for competition, Cristiano Ronaldo is one of them.’ Ricardo spent a good deal of time experiencing Ronaldo’s desire for victory during the Euro 2004 and World Cup 2006 campaigns, and is a good source for learning about Cristiano’s character traits. With a squad spending so much time together during major tournaments, everyone becomes very familiar with each other.

The path to the first-team at Sporting had certainly not been mapped out for him, despite his obvious ball skills. A growth spurt had left Cristiano with an awkward physique, not necessary well suited to a career as a professional footballer, and he had to work hard to strengthen his body. The coaches were not sure he would survive against tough opponents who were determined to slow Ronaldo down any way they could. Cristiano knew that he had to toughen up if he wanted to win a regular role in the first team and he applied himself to this task as ably as he had to all the obstacles he had faced in life.

He was earning about the equivalent of £170 a week and the management were very impressed with his development. His rapid rise to stardom in Lisbon set a record at the club: he became the first player in Sporting’s history to play for the under-16s, 17s, and 18s, B-team and first-team in a single season. It told the story of the impact Cristiano was having in training and in matches. His coaches were constantly promoting him to a higher age group because he displayed all the qualities required to progress. It forced Ronaldo to learn quickly, but also gave him the confidence to express himself freely.

But while his professional career was on the up, his personal life was not so rosy. His unhappiness at being away from home was increased by news that his older brother, Hugo, was battling drug addiction. Dolores had funded one stint of treatment with the money from her cleaning job but it had not solved the problem, and Cristiano became extremely worried.

His wage at Sporting was enough that he could offer to fund a second spell of treatment for his brother in the hope that it would straighten him out. Hugo went to a clinic in Lisbon where he made crucial progress on the road to recovery. Had Ronaldo not been a footballer, it is unlikely the family could have afforded more treatment for Hugo. It was a desperate time but Hugo’s recovery gave the story a happy ending. This predicament back in Madeira made Ronaldo feel even more detached from his family and he wished he could be there more often to support Hugo. With Dinis still drinking heavily, it all had an impact on Cristiano’s state of mind.

Ronaldo had supported Benfica as a boy but this had been complicated by his move to rivals Sporting – the Benfica fans would never let him forget it. The 2002/03 season saw him break into the first team at Sporting – a reward for the effort he had made to overcome his early problems. It spoke volumes for his commitment to his profession that he endured the harsh assimilation stage of his football education in Lisbon and emerged as such an immensely talented player. With Ronaldo’s incredible natural talent, it is easy to assume that he did not have to work as hard to break through as a professional footballer. This is certainly not the case and anyone who has seen how hard he works on the training ground would not dare to make such an assumption. Many people made the same misjudgement over Ryan Giggs and Eric Cantona, who actually worked just as hard as anyone else.

His emergence as a first-team player for Sporting Lisbon brought him great personal joy and sent a wave of pride around the island of Madeira – nowhere more so than in his hometown of Santo Antonio. His father was overwhelmed with happiness to see his son lining up for one of the nation’s top clubs. He loved to share his son’s achievements with others. He used to treasure newspaper articles and reports regarding Ronaldo’s efforts in Lisbon and rushed around spreading the news on Mondays when the weekend games were reviewed in the newspapers. Certainly, everyone in the neighbourhood was kept well-informed about Cristiano’s achievements!

He played in 25 games in the green and white of Sporting during the 2002/03 season, scored five goals, and showed why the club took the effort to nurture him through his difficult days. His first team career began with a league debut against Moreirense aged just 17. It was an incredible moment in his life and the feeling of entering the action with the crowd cheering will stay with him forever. His mood was now vastly improved in comparison with the early days in Lisbon. He really felt like a professional footballer.

He made his mark instantly by scoring twice against Moreirense, one of which was a wonderful dribble and shot into the bottom corner of the net. Cristiano raced away towards the crowd after this goal to the deserved applause. It was the perfect way to introduce himself to first-team football. He then added another goal against fellow title contenders Boavista. His exciting style of play quickly won him many fans; they would hold their breath in expectation whenever Ronaldo had the ball. His inclusion in the team was always met with cheers, though he spent a number of matches as a substitute. But it would not be long before he was plying his trade at an even higher level.

It was far from an ideal season for Sporting, who failed to live up to the expectations of their passionate supporters. The players had to endure criticism as they slipped out of title contention. Having won the Portuguese title in 2001/02 and triumphed in the domestic cup competition, Sporting were tipped for another prolific campaign, but only finished third as Porto began their period of dominance under the guidance of Jose Mourinho. The team was disappointed to lose nine matches and draw eight, finding themselves 27 points behind Porto and 16 behind second-placed Benfica. Sporting’s cup campaign also ended a little prematurely as they were eliminated in the quarter-final by Naval 1º de Maio losing 1-0. Ronaldo was unfortunate to play in the side during one of the team’s worst seasons. More recently, Sporting have returned to good form, reaching the 2005 UEFA Cup final – losing to CSKA Moscow – and winning the Portuguese Cup in 2007; but the Portuguese league title has eluded them since 2002.

Costinha, the Porto midfielder, echoed the thoughts of many when he reflected that Cristiano’s first full season in the team could have been hard for him because Sporting had a bad campaign. It could have seriously dented his confidence. But Ronaldo still came out of it stronger. In fact, the winger was one of the main plus points for the club. He was a popular player within the dressing room and struck up friendships that he would keep for life, notably with Hugo Viana, a fellow midfielder.

Cristiano has not forgotten the influence that Sporting’s ‘football factory’ had on his development into a world class player. When he is back in Portugal – usually on international duty – he drops in at the club to see the young players. It allows him to offer advice to the current prodigies and to re-live his days there – which, despite the uneasy beginning, had been enjoyable. Ronaldo explains, ‘It is the place where I became a man and it makes me very proud to go back there and have dinner with young players who have the same dream I had.’

Ronaldo caught the eye of scouts throughout his time in Lisbon and had even come to the attention of Gerard Houllier, then manager of Liverpool. Things could have been so different had Houllier acted on his interest in the 16-year-old Ronaldo, who had starred for Portugal in the UEFA Under-17 European Championships. His Sporting Lisbon football education had earned him a place in the squad and he had dazzled scouts with his ability, albeit raw and untested in the more challenging leagues in Europe. It is at such tournaments that top clubs often spot potential superstars and there is no better audience for a youngster to perform well in front of.

For Ronaldo, it was an interesting experience. Some players had already benefited from playing in the first team of their respective clubs but he was still waiting to make the step up to the Sporting Lisbon senior side. He learned a lot about his game during the tournament and helped Portugal enjoy a good run in the competition. He could have been gracing Anfield not Old Trafford; he could have been linking up with Steven Gerrard, not Wayne Rooney. How Liverpool must be ruing that decision.

Phil Thompson, who spent time as Houllier’s assistant manager at Liverpool, has since revealed the details of the club’s interest. Thompson explained in the Liverpool Daily Echo that he had been invited by a contact, the agent Tony Henry, to watch Ronaldo play and was very impressed. He claims that Liverpool were offered Cristiano for £4 million by Sporting Lisbon, but the management were unsure of spending that much money on an untested youngster. The timing was wrong too, as Houllier had just signed Florent Sinama-Pongolle and Anthony Le Tallec, and did not think the supporters would appreciate another inexperienced signing as the team aimed for the title. While Liverpool dallied, United took pole position.

Current Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho also noticed Ronaldo’s potential early on. While Ronaldo and Mourinho have not always seen eye-to-eye in more recent times, the Blues boss recalls, ‘I went to watch Sporting and there was this tall, elegant kid playing up front. I had never heard of him before but my eyes were drawn to him right away. Cristiano has gone on to become a great player.’ Gradually, word spread around the country and abroad that Sporting had unearthed a flair player with huge potential.

His excellent performance for the Portuguese Under-21s against England Under-21s in late March 2003 may have caught the eyes of some English supporters, and it certainly did not escape Sir Alex Ferguson’s watchful eye. Ronaldo scored one of Portugal’s goals in a 4-2 win. It was a rare sighting of Cristiano in under-21 action. Such was the winger’s rise to the highest level that he barely had time to play alongside his fellow youngsters. England were simply unfortunate to have been one of the teams that had to face him.

Rather like his career with Nacional, his spell in Lisbon came to a sudden end. After just one season in the first team, he attracted interest from several top European clubs. With scouts regularly visiting the Portuguese capital, Ronaldo was in the shop window. His focus was on helping his team improve, but his suitors were lining up, poised to make bids. Sir Alex Ferguson admitted in the Independent, ‘We were on the case of Cristiano when he was 15. Such was the acceleration of his career that Real Madrid, Arsenal and Barcelona were all after him, so we felt we had to act.’

Initially, though, reports varied over who would win the race for Cristiano. Some believed that Inter Milan were favourites, having agreed to pay a transfer fee but allow Ronaldo to stay in Lisbon to further his football education before later moving to Italy. But others suggested that Carlos Queiroz, United’s Portuguese assistant manager, would be the deciding factor. Cristiano found all the attention very flattering but tried to remain focused on his game. A few rumours even suggested that Chelsea had made a late attempt to poach Ronaldo. Other reports linked Cristiano with a transfer to Real Madrid and Barcelona. The group of European powerhouses chasing him showed just how in demand he was.

With a tense scrap on the cards, Manchester United moved quickest to secure his signature, despite Sporting coach Fernando Santos’ hopes of keeping Cristiano. It was a friendly match between United and Sporting at Alvalade XXI stadium that finally convinced Ferguson to snap up Ronaldo. The media reported that Sir Alex had told ex-United chief executive Peter Kenyon at half-time in the game that they were ‘not leaving the stadium until we get the boy’ and recalled, ‘When we saw him play in a pre-season friendly for Sporting against us, at half-time I knew we had to get him.’

The consensus of the United players was the same. They saw Ronaldo as a very exciting prospect who could be great for the club and they urged their manager to bring him to Manchester. Ferguson realised that if Ronaldo carried his Sporting form into the Premiership, he could dominate English football for more than a decade. Cristiano had shown his appetite to progress and it was certainly a gamble worth taking, considering Ferguson’s track record of getting the best out of young footballers.

Interestingly, the only other time that Ferguson had been so heavily influenced by his players was over the signing of the legendary Eric Cantona. Steve Bruce and Gary Pallister had told Ferguson that Cantona was well worth buying and convinced their manager that the Frenchman could be the missing piece in the United jigsaw. The rest, as they say, is history. Cantona went on to inspire the club to a string of Premiership and FA Cup triumphs. If Ronaldo could have the same impact that Cantona had, United would be ecstatic. Maybe he too would be the key component and he would lead the team’s bid to retain the title.

A successful bid of £12.24 million saw Ronaldo moving onto the next chapter of his whirlwind story. Sir Alex Ferguson liked what he saw and knew that he had to pull out all the stops to sign him. The fee was big for someone so young and apparently Thompson and Houllier at Liverpool could not believe that United had paid such a high price for another ‘potential star’. But deep down, even at this stage, they must have feared the worst and wondered whether they had made a mistake by overlooking the young winger. Thompson was unhappy that he had not been informed by Henry about the developments of the deal, as he had first offered the player to Liverpool.

Ferguson certainly made a strong impression on Ronaldo’s family with his generosity and his promise to nurture the youngster’s talent effectively – Dolores calls the United boss ‘our friend’ and the player’s family felt happy with Ferguson’s plans. Dinis, meanwhile, also praised the role that the United manager has played in Cristiano’s life, ‘Ferguson is an exceptional person. My son has a second father in Manchester who looks after him.’ Without doubt, the good treatment that Ronaldo received at Old Trafford helped him to settle at the club and overcome any uneasiness. He did not suffer in the way that he had in Lisbon.

With Ferguson having sold wideman David Beckham to Real Madrid, Ronaldo had been selected as the man to take over on the right wing. Beckham’s were big boots to fill, but Ronaldo would offer something very different. Rather than a succession of crosses, the United strikers could expect Ronaldo to head for the bye-line, beating his man before delivering a cross. He was a player more in the mould of a young Ryan Giggs than that of Beckham. Cristiano vowed to stamp his own identity on the United team and leave a legacy at the club.

With his transfer complete, the praise came flooding in. Eusebio, Portugal’s finest ever player, announced, ‘At that age, Ronaldo is not just a footballer, he is waiting to be an icon. He would enhance any team, any league anywhere. I really believe he is that good.’ Luis Figo, at the time playing for Real Madrid, predicted a bright future for Cristiano in Manchester, ‘He is good enough to embarrass English defenders and I think he will have too much skill for a lot of them. He can do whatever he wants as a footballer. There are some things he does with the ball that make me touch my head and wonder how he did it.’ It was certainly a boost for Cristiano to hear such tributes.

Still only 18, it was the move of his dreams. Every aspiring young player hopes to make the step up to a big club and Ronaldo had done it. Now he had to justify the price tag. While he was known to scouts of Europe’s biggest clubs, Cristiano was not a household name in England and few would have selected him as a candidate to top United’s summer transfer list. But at the same time, few doubted Ferguson’s ability to unearth top young players. Everyone at United waited with baited breath to see Ronaldo in action, but Ferguson insisted that he would introduce Cristiano to English football carefully and gradually. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had played so well on the right flank towards the end of the previous campaign that Ronaldo could be eased gently into the fast-paced Premiership action.

He looked shy and slight when he arrived at Old Trafford – as if he was innocent and naïve. In fact, Ronaldo had already endured some very testing times and he knew all about the dangers in life. His experiences with the problems faced by his father and his brother ensured that he was well aware of the excesses to avoid. His mother told the Daily Mirror, ‘Cristiano has seen what drink and drugs can do to people close to him and it’s part of the reason why he’s become who he is today. His only addiction is football.’

Football has always been Ronaldo’s chief focus and it has enabled him to avoid the pitfalls that so many young players have fallen into. When sudden wealth arrives, it is very easy to get carried away and caught up in the fame, yet he is not a man spotted out in the early hours of the night. He had not been swayed by the nightlife on offer in Lisbon, where he seemed to prefer a quiet life away from the spotlight, and it was unlikely that he would change now. It was simply not in his character to embrace the celebrity lifestyle.

There was some concern that girls would target Cristiano in a bid to get their hands on his money. But Alberto Joao Jardim, president of Madeira, among others, had warned Ronaldo of the perils of fame and fortune. Jardim pointed out that girls would show more interest than ever in Ronaldo and that he would need to be sensible and avoid difficult situations. The president remains very proud of Cristiano and keeps a close eye on his progress.

Cristiano has never forgotten how hard his parents worked to give him a happy upbringing, and now that he has the wealth that comes with life as a footballer he has tried to show his appreciation. Nowhere is the transformation more obvious than in the case of his mother, Dolores. Having struggled to make ends meet in her cleaning job, she could not have been described as flashy with her clothes or jewellery. Now, though, she is usually seen wearing designer labels. After the difficult years that she battled through so bravely, she deserves every bit of her new luxurious lifestyle and she looks set to enjoy it to the full.

Ronaldo still returns to Santo Antonio to see the same friends that he grew up with. Clearly, the town holds many happy memories and his friends obviously see him as the same boy they knew as youngsters. He has kept his feet on the ground and is able to renew these acquaintances with ease. Sometimes, he can be found playing pool with his best childhood friends and, when possible, he likes to return to the climate, the greenery and thriving port of his home island.

Even now that he has the celebrity status to move in any number of distinguished circles, he still prefers to spend his spare time with family and friends, eating together and playing ping pong. His fame has not changed his personality, even though his popularity has never been greater than it is now. For all the flashy confidence that he shows on the pitch, he does his best to live a quiet, ‘normal’ life off the field.