This hub is the second in a series of small tributes to some of the world's greatest ever soccer players, these will be appearing in no particular order and the series has no fixed amount of players to feature! The inspiration behind this series is my hub 'The Best 5 Footballers of the Nineties', this profile of Ronaldo is almost identical to the one on that feature. Look out for more to come in the series, which I will eventually link together at the bottom of each separate hub!

Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima, more commonly known outside of Brazil as simply 'Ronaldo' is probably the only player of the past two decade that comes close to Zinedine Zidane in terms of achievements and respect in the game. Ronaldo burst onto the Brazilian scene at just 16 years old with an astonishing 12 goals in 14 games for his first club Cruzeiro and lead them to their first ever Copa do Brasil championship. This form led to a call up to the Brazilian 1994 world cup squad at just 17 years old, although he did not make the pitch. Brazil's success and his frustration made him hungry.

He left for Europe immediately after the world cup, signing for Dutch club PSV where he spent two years and scored a prolific 42 goals in just 45 league appearances. Ronaldo subsequently moved to Barcelona for 1996/1997 season where his goalscoring talents again saw an incredible return, this time it was 47 goals in 49 games. Ronaldo's exploits meant that Barcelona won the Spanish Cup, the Spanish Supercup and the European Cup Winners Cup in one season. The season saw him win the La Liga top scorer award in 1997 with 34 goals; the significance of which should not be understated. Ronaldo remained the last player to score more than 30 goals in Liga for 12 years up to the 2008/2009 season.

Ronaldo then moved to Internazionale in Seria A for a then world record transfer fee after just one year with Barcelona, where he helped the team win the UEFA Cup in his first season; Ronaldo scored in the final. His move to Inter, although initially very fruitful, turned to disaster at the end of 1999 when he ruptured a tendon in his right knee. This injury was not initially thought too serious, and he was back by April 2000 after about 6 months. In his comeback game he was on the pitch for just 7 minutes before his knee broke down again. This time he required two operations and was in rehabilitation for 36 months, three whole years out the game.

Being out of the game for three years would have finished all but the most mentally tough players and it was his comeback from injury in 2002 that sealed his place in history as a footballing legend. Returning for Brazil in the 2002 World Cup, having played just a handful of friendly games, he helped Brazil to win the world cup and finished the tournaments top scorer with 8 goals including the two goals of the final against Germany. Eight years after his youthful frustration on the bench at World Cup 1994, he had returned from injury to lead Brazil to success for the fifth time in their history. His performances led to him winning the World Player of The Year for the third time, a record that has been equalled by only Zidane.

Ronaldo moved to Real Madrid, although his fitness was often questioned and his injury problems were never fully overcome. He still managed an incredible 49 goals in 69 league games for Inter Milan and 83 goals in 127 games for Real Madrid. He is currently playing back in Brazil for Corinthians after a brief spell at AC Milan. To date Ronaldo has scored an impressive 240 goals in 333 league career games, and scored 67 goals in 97 competitive Brazil games, making him one of history's most natural goal scorers. Ronaldo is known in Brazil as O Fenomeno, meaning 'The Phenomenom', it is a nickname that cannot be argued.