The Great Men's Cross 8: Cristiano Ronaldo 1

This is another interesting series after the ones we have gone through; Lionel Messi, Les Brown, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Ben Carson and Albert Einstein. If you have not read all these, please do that now by checking on them. You take note, these are the stories of men we can learn from their patter of life, not because our challenges and goals are the same, but because we don't want to repeat the same mistakes they did or we just want to be exposed to their way of thinking big. Please follow this story to the end, there is a lot to learn from it. 

Very important: Fear: The Limiting Factor to Success and Breakthrough

Cristiano Ronaldo is a professional footballer who represents his country Portugal as well as his club side, Juventus after spells at Sporting, Manchester United and Real Madrid as a forward. Ronaldo currently captains his national team (Portugal). Ronaldo is most times considered as the best footballer in the world and one of the greatest of all-time footballers. He is also a five-time winner of Ballon d’Or, a record he owns with his counterpart Lionel Messi and as well the only European player to have such record.

Currently, Ronaldo has 27 trophies which include five UEFA Champions League titles, five league titles and one UEFA European Championship. Ronaldo is known to be prolific at the front of goal and currently holds the most official goals scored the Europe’s top-five leagues (409 goals), the UEFA Champions League (121 goals), and also has the highest assist in the UEFA Champions League (34). Together, Ronaldo has more than 690 career goals for both country and club.

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Despite all these successes recorded by Ronaldo, he had his own share of pain and sorrow, poor background and health problem. One of his major problems was him being diagnosed of a racing heart and had to undergo surgery in order to correct it so that he can play football.

The Birth

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, who is born in Sao Pedro, Portugal is the fourth and youngest child of his parents, Maria Dolores who is a cook and Jose Dinis Aveiro (died in 2005) who was a gardener and a kit man.  Ronaldo, one of Cristiano’s names was picked after the former US president Ronald Reagan. Ronaldo has two elder sisters, Elma and Liliana and elder brother Hugo.

The Great Decision

Ronaldo then moved to Lisbon to join the club’s youth academy. At age 14, Ronald feels he can actually enter the semi-professional level of football. His mother suggested they stop his education so he can focus on his football career which Ronaldo agreed (Be decisive in life and take note of where your strength lies).

The Challenges

While growing, Ronaldo suffered because he grew in an impoverished home. The family of Ronaldo; the father, mother, Hugo, Elma, Liliana and Ronaldo all lived in a room. Imagination of this alone is enough to imagine what it feels for Ronaldo to come from a very poor family. Worthy to note is that Ronaldo grew in a Catholic.

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Ronaldo was popular among the students in school and was expelled when he threw a chair at the teacher in school. A year later, Ronaldo had a bigger problem to face; he had a racing heart; this was just enough for him to give up on himself and leave football for the healthy ones, however, Ronaldo didn’t. He underwent heart surgery and a laser was used to cauterize multiple cardiac pathways, bring them together into one and this process altered his resting heart rate. Some hours after surgery, Ronaldo was discharged and he joined back in training after few days (Stop making excuses for your failure and inadequacies, rather face it and make a way out).

Career Starts

Ronaldo started his career though unprofessional then with Andorinha, an amateur team in Portugal where his father served as the kit man. Ronaldo played between 1992 and 1995 in Andorinha. He then went on to Nacional where he spent two years. At the age of 12 (in 1997), Ronaldo had a three-day trial with Sporting; this was successful and he was signed for £1,500 (compare that to how much he is worth now and signed from Real Madrid; the beginning doesn’t matter like the end).

At the Age of 16, Ronaldo got promoted from Sporting’s youth team to the senior team because the coach, Laszio Boloni was very impressed with his dribbling skills. In so doing, Ronaldo became the only player to play for Sporting’s under-16, under-17, under-18, B team and the senior team within a season. Ronaldo eventually made his debut on 7 October 2002, where he scored two goals in a 3-0 wing against Moreirense. Impressed with his performance, his managers offered him to Liverpool, Barcelona while Arsene Wenger, Arsenal’s then manager showed interest in signing him. However, Manchester United showed a convincing interest.

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The interest shown by Sir Alex Ferguson in signing Ronaldo came as a result of Ronaldo’s performance when Sporting won Manchester United 3-1 in August 2003. Previously, Manchester United was only interested in signing Ronaldo and loaning him back to Sporting but this would not go through when Manchester United players rather begged Sir Alex Ferguson sign him and make him stay. After the game between Manchester United and Sporting, Sir Alex Ferguson decided to pay £12.24 million Sporting for Ronaldo (Destiny helpers are very important in life’s journey).

Manchester United (The Road to Stardom)

On joining Manchester United, Ronaldo became the first player from Portugal to play for the club. Also, the amount at which he was signed (£12.24 million) made him the first teenager ever in the history of English football to be signed for that amount. Ronaldo earlier requested for the number 28 jersey, the one he wore in Sporting, he was rather given the number 7 shirt, a number that once belonged to David Beckham, George Best and Eric Cantona. 

Getting the number 7 jersey and with the likes of those that once wore it, this gets to motivate Ronaldo more to achieve (Self-Motivation is the best). Ronaldo would later recognize Sir Alex Ferguson as the man that made his path in England smooth. In his words, ‘He has been like a father to me in sport; he is one of the most important and the influential factors in my entire career’.....The Great Men's Cross: Cristiano Ronaldo 2.
'I have never tried to hide the fact that my only goal is to be the best' - Cristiano Ronaldo

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