Joel Richards

Before Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, one man ruled world football and lit up many a living room with his dazzling displays.

A look at some Ronaldo’s career stats is a joy to behold. Were it not for the even more incredible feats today of Messi and Portuguese Ronaldo, the Brazilian wonder would be held in even higher regard. But to those born in the 90’s – like this writer was – there was a majesty about the ease with which he terrified opposition defenders.

Prior to the 1994 World Cup in USA, he notched an eye-watering 44 goals in 47 appearances for Cruzeiro, five of them coming in a 6-0 win against Bahia in November 1993. Such form alerted the attention of PSV Eindhoven and on the recommendation of another Brazilian legend Romario, Ronaldo began his European odyssey in the Netherlands.

By the end of his debut season, Ronaldo had scored 30 league goals to top the Eredivisie scoring charts. The following campaign was disrupted by the first of many knee injuries that would blight his career, but Ronaldo still averaged a goal a game to net 19 in 21 appearances as PSV won the Dutch Cup in 1996.

After a total of 54 goals in 58 games from his two years in Eindhoven, the next destination for Ronaldo was the Camp Nou where more extraordinary feats lay. Under the guidance of Bobby Robson, the Brazilian’s 47 goals in just 49 games helped Barcelona claim a Copa Del Rey and UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup double. Individual awards followed too as his 34 goals in 37 La Liga appearances claimed the Pichichi award and European Golden Shoe.

But after just 12 months in Catalonia, a contract dispute resulted in Inter Milan signing Ronaldo for a then-world record fee of £19 million. Another fantastic season followed as 34 goals in 47 games helped Inter claim the UEFA Cup ahead of the 1998 World Cup in France.

Unfortunately for Ronaldo, further injury woes would hamper his time in Italy and though he managed 59 goals from 99 games in all competitions, further questions of ‘what if?’ linger about a record that only mere mortals could dream of.

On the world’s biggest stage however, Brazil’s No.9 made it his own. Across four World Cups, (one of which he didn’t feature at all in 1994) Ronaldo plundered 15 goals in only 19 appearances with two of those strikes settling the 2002 final in Brazil’s favour against Germany. Only Miroslav Klose (16) can boast a better record than the phenomenal striker.

Despite the troublesome injury record, such prowess made Real Madrid secure his services as part of their Galactico era in 2002 and he would claim another Pichici during his time at the Bernabeu. In four and a half seasons in Madrid, Ronaldo’s 104 goals in 177 games saw him become the fifth foreigner to reach a century in the famous white.

What makes Ronaldo’s numbers so incredible is the multitude of big injuries he suffered throughout his career. For any other player, such statistics would be glorious, but in Ronaldo’s case, you can only ponder ‘what might have been’ had he not sustained such huge blows.