Soccer Greats: Cristiano Ronaldo

At the mere age of 24, Cristiano Ronaldo is considered to be the greatest player walking the pitch today by many. Everyone has a different opinion about him due to his actions on the pitch. No matter what anyone says or what he does, in the end the statistics don't lie.

Born in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal on February 5, 1985, this young superstar started to shine at a very early age. Playing football throughout most of his youth, at the age of 16, he got his first professional start for a Portuguese side called Sporting Lisbon. Shining for his team and his countries Under 17 Youth team, he caught the attention of one the biggest clubs in England, Manchester United.

Having played against Cristiano Ronaldo and losing, Manchester United coach Sir Alex Ferguson decided to take a chance on the young talent. Pressure from other top European teams to sign Ronaldo forced Sir Alex Ferguson to rush into the transfer and buy him for £12.24 million British Pounds.

After coming to England, Cristiano had some problems adjusting to the playing style. Once adapting to life in England, Cristiano Ronaldo took the spotlight in a fashion even he couldn't have predicted. As time went on and his skills improved, the goals started pouring in a little more each season. When the 2007/2008 season came to an end, the world was in awe as he scored 42 goals as a winger for Manchester United. 31 of those goals came in the English Premier League, giving him an even ratio of 1 goal per game. The winger became all there was to talk about in the football world.

Averaging 34 goals per season from 2006-2009, Ronaldo had all the attention on him and all the pressure on Manchester United as Spanish giants Real Madrid were looking to revamp their squad, which included the purchase of Manchester United's main star. After a year of declining rumors of Ronaldo's transfer to Real Madrid, an £80 million pound offer was too much to turn down and Cristiano Ronaldo was officially part of Los Galacticos after a recording breaking transfer.

Playing in Spain has treated Cristiano well. Even while playing in a team filled with the best players from around the world, he is still able to shine and steal the spotlight. Having started the season in great form, Madrid would soon lose their new star to an injury which was aggravated on international duty in Portugal's important qualifying match for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Since the injury, Madrid had a slump in form, showing once again, that Cristiano Ronaldo is a top player. He would recover from his injury just in time to return to face La Liga rivals, Barcelona.

Sources:
ESPN Soccernet
IMDb