Prolific. Controversial. Incredible. All words used to describe the once legendary 34-year-old Brazilian striker Ronaldo, who confirmed he will retire. Here’s what he had to say:
“My body aches. In my head I want to continue, but this body can’t take much more”
Short but sweet. His fitness has been questioned since arriving at Corinthians from AC Milan and for good reason. The once dominant man looked more out of shape with each passing day, despite putting up more than respectable numbers for the club (18 goals in 31 “official” league appearances). At any rate, Ronaldo will go down in history as one of the greatest strikers ever to play the game. He put up tremendous statistics at each club he resided. He’s been voted “Player of the Decade”, 3 Time FIFA Player of the year…the list goes on and on. He’s won a World Cup and several honors at the club level, too. Let’s take a look at his stats from the years:
Cruziero: 12 goals in 14 appearances
PSV: 42 goals in 46 appearances
Barcelona: 34 goals in 37 appearances
Inter Milan: 49 goals in 68 appearances
Real Madrid: 83 goals 127 appearances
AC Milan: 9 goals in 20 appearances
Corinthians: 18 goals in 31 appearances
Wow. Unbelievable numbers from an unreal player. This doesn’t even take into account his 62 goals in 97 appearances for the Brazilian national team. There are not enough superlatives to describe one of the greatest players of our generation. Though many people had forgotten he was still playing, he still was lighting it up like always, just slightly out of the spotlight. So hats off to you, Ronaldo. We’ll miss you putting it in the soccer goal. Highlight reel time.
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