Cristiano Ronaldo!
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro is a Portuguese striker and Manchester United’s winger. Ronaldo was born on February 5, 1985 in Funchal-Madeira, Portugal. His second name, “Ronaldo,” was chosen by his father after the U.S president Ronald Reagan. He has an older brother, Hugo, and two older sisters, Elma and Liliana Cátia.
Ronaldo used to play in the streets in Portugal, as he told us in his interview, and his friends and family told him that he is a great footballer. They told him that he could also make his dream, to play in the world cup in a world class team, come true. At the age of eight, Ronaldo then played for an amateur team Andorinha. Later, in 1995, Ronaldo signed with the local club Nacional, and won the winning title. Impressed Sporting CP’s manager gave him a three day trial, and Ronaldo made the team.
Ronaldo joined the Sporting’s youth team, and was the first Sporting player to play for the under 16, 17, 18, B-team and the first team only in one season. At the age of 15, Ronaldo was diagnosed with racing heart, a condition where your heart beat rate goes really high or really low and often suffer from breathing problems. After the surgery, he began training the next day. Liverpool manager Gérard Houllier saw his title matches with Sporting and spotted Ronaldo, but later decided not to take him in the Liverpool team because he was too young and needed to develop his skills first.
In 2003, when Sporting defeated Manchester United 3-1, Manager Alex Ferguson saw Ronaldo’s skills and how he could grow his attributes as a footballer. Ferguson had to take Ronaldo. He signed with Manchester for £12.24 million and became United’s first ever Portuguese player. He requested the kit number 28 because he had the same number in Sporting, but Ferguson gave him number 7 instead. Manchester United’s most popular players, such as George Best, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona, and David Beckham, used to wear the number seven.
His first appearance for United was against Bolton, when he came in the 60th minute as a substitute. He scored his first goal for Manchester United with a free kick in a 3-0 win against Portsmouth on 1 November 2003. Until now, Ronaldo has won several awards including Portuguese Footballer of the Year: 2006–07, PFA Young Player of the Year: 2006–07, FWA Footballer of the Year·: 2006–07, 2007–08, Barclays Player of the Season: 2006–07, 2007–08, FIFA World Player of the Year: 2008 and lots of more similar awards. Ronaldo is my favourite player and my role model.
