Cristiano Ronaldo

 

Ronaldo was born in Madeira, Portugal, to Maria Dolores dos Santos Aveiro and the late José Dinis Aveiro. He has one older brother, Hugo, and two elder sisters, Elma and Liliana. Liliana is a singer by the stage name “Ronalda” in Portugal. Cristiano’s second given name ”Ronaldo” is very uncommon in Portugal. His parents named him after former Hollywood actor and U.S. President Ronald Reagan due to his late father’s respect for the man.

Ronaldo is a two-footed player, this allowing him to play anywhere up front: right, left or through the middle. This has enabled Ronaldo and left winger Ryan Giggs to switch wings occasionally, allowing Manchester United to further confuse their opponents. Ronaldo has superb technical ability. Besides his multiple step-over moves, he also developed a wide array of skills, making him a tricky and unpredictable winger to come up against. Ronaldo’s pace and blistering runs, either down the wings or cutting into the middle, has further established him as an important player to Manchester United. He can also strike powerful shots from outside the box. His unique playing style is a far cry from traditional wingers of the past and he can best be described as a winger and a striker rolled into one. Ronaldo is extremely good in the air and has scored a fair number of headed goals as well. In addition, his ‘pin ball free-kicks’ are also noted for their swerve and dip. He is also adept at taking spot kicks and was Manchester United’s first choice penalty-taker.

In the summer of 2009, Cristiano Ronaldo completed a record breaking €94 million transfer to Real Madrid. During his first season at Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo scored 26 goals. The season was not very successful however as Barcelona won La Liga and Real Madrid fell out of Champions League at the hands of Lyon.

Cristiano Ronaldo played in his second FIFA World Cup in 2010. The Portuguese traveled to South Africa with high expectations after beating Bosnia to qualify for the World Cup. Portugal advanced to the knockout stages despite a poor showing during the group games. Portugal was knocked out of the World Cup in the round of 16 by a far superior Spanish team.

Real Madrid announced that Jose Mourinho would take over as manager for the 2010-11 season. Together with Jose Mourinho, Cristiano Ronaldo’s expectations for the upcoming season are at an all-time high..