Il Fenomeno
There are all sorts of quotes from opponents, team mates, managers and pundits that are quoted in this blog, but to be honest, the biggest compliment from me is that Il Fenomeno was the man who made me fall in love with Calcio – and especially the Nerazzurri. Although I clearly hide my bias towards Inter well usually, I won’t in this blog.
Those Sunday afternoons spent glued to Channel 4 in the UK watching James Richardson sit outside a café with the Gazzetta describing the articles to us would spawn a lifelong obsession with the beautiful game in Italy. It would be years before I finally took a trip to the San Siro, Ronaldo long gone, but his shirt still for sale in the club shop and in the stalls around the stadium tells the true story of his impact on Inter.
The reigning FIFA Player of the Year arrived in Milano in 1997 after one season at Barcelona. A paltry €28m paid to secure his services was a world record fee at the time – those days are long gone from Italian football. He hit the ground running in Italy, hitting 34 goals in 47 appearances in all competitions, although he would only play another 52 in the next four years before departing for Real Madrid.
“The toughest player I ever faced.”
Paolo Maldini
His team mates, opponents and managers alike were in awe of the phenomenon. Zanetti remarked that he was “from another planet” and Lippi said “you didn’t coach Ronaldo; you just gave him the ball”. The fact he was referred to by Maldini as the “toughest player I ever faced” and Cannavaro described facing him “a nightmare – he was unstoppable” should tell you all you need to know.
That first season was capped by a UEFA Cup win (Europa League) with a 3-0 victory against fellow Serie A side Lazio, in which Ronaldo delivered a spectacular solo goal, showcasing his natural pace, power and composure to leave a Lazio defence spinning. However, it would be another cup final against Lazio that would come to define the man.
“Watching someone so talented suffer like that was painful for all of us.”
Ivan Cordoba
He’d already suffered a serious rupture of the tendons in his right knee in a Serie A match against Lecce in November 1999. Surgery and a significant recovery period had the star man sitting on the sidelines watching his team mates compete for the rest of the season. As Ivan Cordoba remarked at the time, “Watching someone so talented suffer like that was painful for all of us”.
However, on April 12th 2000, Ronaldo was back on the bench in the Coppa Italia final against Lazio. His return highly anticipated by a team that had drifted somewhat without him. However, just 6 minutes after his introduction a sudden movement caused his kneecap to rupture, Ronaldo collapsed to the floor and was in visible agony, clutching his knee.
The impact wasn’t just on the player himself, but his team mates too. Goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca said, “It was devastating. Seeing Ronaldo, knowing how much he worked to come back was unbearable”. With strike partner Christian Vieri adding, “He fought so hard to return, and that injury broke all of us”.
Ronaldo headed to Paris for surgery under famed physician Dr Gerard Saillant spending over a year in rehabilitation, rebuilding his strength and mobility. As Javier Zanetti would say after his return, “even when it looked impossible, he never gave up”. And at one point it looked impossible. There was some doubt whether Ronaldo would even walk again, let alone play football.
Fortunately for Il Fenomeno, he had a strong group around him, including team mate Roberto Baggio who has suffered similar knee issues over his career. “I spoke with Ronaldo often. I told him recovery is a mental battle as much as a physical one”. Over a year later it seemed Ronaldo had won the mental and physical battles.
Looking understandably tentative on the pitch initially, Ronaldo was back on the pitch in September 2001 against Brescia. He would only appear 16 times that season, scoring 7 goals, but he had showed the World his resilience. Hector Cuper, Nerazzurri coach that season, said of Ronaldo, “He showed the World that after everything he went through, he was still Ronaldo – still Il Fenomeno”.
The pace and explosiveness that made him the World’s youngest Ballon D’Or winner in 1998 aged 21 were affected. But his football brain, his finishing and his faith in himself have never been diminished.
Youri Djorkaeff once said that “Even in training, he’d do things we couldn’t even imagine” and Luigi Simoni commented that “he made the impossible seen ordinary”. Recovering from that injury against Lazio probably tops any feat he ever managed on the pitch. His legacy is still felt today, with strikers such as Kylian Mbappe and Zlatan Ibrahimovic attributing his influence to their game.
In 2002 Real Madrid and the galacticos came calling and Ronaldo was gone from Italy after 59 goals in 99 appearances in Milan. It wasn’t forever, however, and Ronaldo would return to Calcio, and Milan in 2007. This time in red and black and for a mere €7.5m and would stay for an injury plagues year and a half. He managed 9 goals in 20 appearances for Milan, forging a strong partnership with Kaka and Clarence Seedorf.
He once commented that one of the most bittersweet moments of his career was scoring for Milan against the Nerazzurri in the Derby della Madonnina in the 2007/08 season. During a match against Livorno, Ronaldo once again ruptured his patellar tendon in his left knee and the season was over – with it his time in Italy.
One of the few players to score for both sides in the Derby della Madonnina, he also managed to score for both sides in El Clasico. The only footballer in history to do both. Perhaps why he’s known the world over as Il Fenomeno.