Ronaldinho

There are very few players in international football who are able to make you gasp at the audacity of their skill one moment and in the next instant make you laugh out loud with the sheer impudence of their play, but the man from Porto Alegre is undoubtedly one of them.

Ronaldinho started his brilliant career at Brazilian club Gremio in 1998, staying for 3 seasons, scoring 37 goals in 110 league matches before heading for Europe, to the French capital and Paris Saint Germain. There were some excellent cameos from Ronaldinho while in France and he managed 17 goals in 55 league games but there was always the feeling that he wasn't doing his fantastic talent justice. However Manchester United had seen enough and were intent on signing him, but the move fell through and Ronaldinho headed instead to Barcelona. He seemed to be inspired by the majesty of the Camp Nou and the challenge of playing in arguably the finest league in the world. Barcelona have for the last few seasons been playing some of the finest football that Europe has witnessed for many years and Ronaldinho is so often at the heartbeat of it. The Catalan club have been unstoppable both in Spain where they have won La Liga in 2005 and 2006 and also in Europe where they won the Champions League in 2006. Inevitably his contribution his been recognised and he won the FIFA World Player of the Year award in 2004 and 2005 as well as the European Footballer of the Year in 2005.

He made his international debut in 1999 against Latvia and he scored his first goal against Venezuela four days later. He currently has 29 goals in 73 internationals and was part of Brazil World Cup winning team in 2002, as well as the Copa America triumph in 1999 and the Confederation Cup success in 2005, admittedly he was below his sublime best at the 2006 World Cup but he is still only 26 and there are surely many great years to come from Ronaldinho, the 2007 Copa America starts in July would anybody bet against Ronaldinho recapturing his form and taking the tournament by storm.