Ronaldinho - Everything You Need To Know

Ronaldo de Assis Moreira also known as Ronaldinho is a Brazilian footballer, a free-kick specialist. He plays for the Brazilian National team and the Italian Series A Club A.C. Milan.

He was born on 21st March 1980, Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, state of Brazil. His talent in the game was discovered when he was very young. He was often the most youngest and the smallest player in youth club matches and thus stuck the nickname Ronaldinho. His father was also a footballer at the local club but died of heart attack when Ronaldinho was eight years old. His brother also was into the game but succumbed to injury later.

Ronaldinho was first noticed at the age of 13, when he scored all the goals against a local team defeating them 23-0. In 1997 he was recognized as a rising star in the U-17 World Championship in Egypt. In 2001 he signed a five-year contract with the Paris Saint-Germain for 5.1 million euros.

With Paris Saint-Germain he had many victories but the club failed to reach top positions despite awesome performance by Ronaldinho. He was instrumental in bringing his club to important matches but still they could finish only in the 11th position. He left the club after they failed to make it to any of the European competition.

He won his first league title in 2004-05 after he joined Futbol Club Barcelona. He was named FIFA World Player of the year in 2004. He was successful in maintaining the title the following year as well. But Barcelona was eliminated from the UEFA Champions League after they were defeated by Chelsea in the first knock-out round by 4-2. Ronaldinhohad scored both the goals for his team. He refused an extension with the team until 2014 but signed a two-year extension contract with the condition that he would be allowed to leave should another club offer Barcelona of at least 85 million pounds for him.

The season of 2004-05 brought him a host of personal awards like the FIFPro World Player of the Year, European Footballer of the Year, FIFPro World XI. He received a standing ovation from the crowd of Madrid after he sealed the match against them with a brilliant win of 3-0 in the first leg of El Clásico.

He moved on from Barcelona in 2008, and joined the Italian Serie A Milan with a three-year contract turning down an offer of £25.5 million from Manchester City. He earned 10 goals from 32 appearances in his first season with them. He scored his first hat-trick for Milan in January 2010. He is the assist leader of Serie A with a total of 13 assists.