Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo is a Portuguese footballer who can play as a forward or a winger. He plays in Portugal’s national team and for Spanish giants Real Madrid. He was named Ronaldo after former US President Ronald Reagan who was his mother’s favourite actor and is considered as one of the top two player in the world.

Ronaldo is from Madeira and started playing football when he was three years of age and become passionate by the age of six. His favorite team was Benfica but he was signed for Sporting Lisbon’s youth school when he was only ten.

At Sporting Cristiano Ronaldo went from the under-16 team to the first team in one season. He scored two goals in his first team debut. Ronaldo played 25 games and scored three goals for Sporting.

In 2003 Manchester United signed Cristiano Ronaldo for 12.24 million pounds. He was bought as David Beckham was sold to Real Madrid to replace him as a right winger. In 2004 Ronaldo won the FA Cup with Manchester United. In 2006-07 Ronaldo won the FA Premier League with Manchester United. It proved to be a breakthrough year for the Portuguese.

Ronaldo continued to increase his status at United and established himself as one of the best players on the planet from thereon. In 2007-08 the Portugal international helped United to the double - Premier League and Champions League. He was awarded with the Ballon ‘dOr and World Player of the Year awards in 2008. Next season too he reached the final of the Champions League with the Red Devils.

In the summer of 2009 Ronaldo became the world’s most expensive player when Real Madrid paid Manchester United a record £80 million. Ronaldo signed a six-year contract with the Blancos. Despite his personal goalscoring feat in 2009-10, he failed to inspire Madrid to any title, but he scored the winning goal in the Copa del Rey final against Barcelona in the 2010-11 campaign. He then led Los Blancos to their La Liga triumph in 2011-12.

Ronaldo made his first cap for Portugal in 2003 and has since then feature in 100 matches for his country, scoring more than 35 goals. He was in the runners up team in UEFA European Championship in 2004.

Major personal achievement:

*Premier League titles (3) *FA Cup (1) *League Cup (2) *Champions League (1) *FIFA Club World Cup (1) *Ballon d’Or 2008 *FIFA World Player of the Year 2008 *La Liga (1) *Copa del Rey (1) * Spanish Super Cup (1)