The Greatest Injury Comeback Ever?

Il Fenomeno. Ronaldo, the original Ronaldo. A phenomenon, not just for his goal scoring abilities, but for his miraculous recovery from a horrific career ending injury.

This is the story of that injury, and Ronaldo’s return to World Cup winning glory. Told by Seb Stafford-Bloor. Illustrated by Philippe Fenner.

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#Ronaldo #Brazil #Inter

[fernandosalazar]

Every ballon D’Or winner receives three copies of the trophy. In 2002 Ronaldo gave one to his dad, kept one and gave the third to Nilton Petrone, the physio who helped him to recover. Nilton is the physio for my hometown club in Rio: Fluminense.

[alun]

Shame that a human body was never meant to withstand the sheer amount of speed, power, and talent that R9 had

[JakeT]

The most naturally gifted player I have ever seen! Scored goals for fun in a period when football was far more defensive and harder to score. The fact so many people (me included) argue he's the greatest player ever despite having his career ravaged by multiple horrific injuries, says all you need to know about how special R9 was!

[joelthorpe]

Any body 25 or younger won't know just how good this fella was. His highlights don't do him justice .. an absolute privilege to watch him play.

[vb]

Speed, Strength & Skill

The 3 S’s of Ronaldo Nazario…In his prime, a 1 man wrecking ball for oppositions..

[nene]

Henrik Larsson's is also up there. Had his leg snapped in half and was to end his career or at least be in recovery for 18 months. He came back in half of that and kept his pace and sharpness and went on to have a 50 goal season and eventually join Barcelona and Man United.

[olivermariobooth]

Wonderful wonderful story. The reaction on the pitch after his knee exploded was unique. Everyone was horrified, not an ounce of tribalism, just collective shock. He was that big in football (and Italy) at the time.

[tizioincognito]

An injured Ronaldo is one of the best forward of his era. An un-injured Ronaldo is probably the best player ever seen on a football pitch

[Almblanco]

We enjoyed Ronaldo at Real Madrid, and while he was still q world-class asset post-injury, he was never really as good as what he had shown in his earlier days (especially in Barcelona). Still, he bagged the 2002-2003 La Liga almost single-handedly.

[akamiguelsanchez]

It’s probably hard for anyone under 30 to appreciate this but literally every kid knew who Ronaldo was and would always be him in the playground. This was despite maybe only seeing him play a few times.

[coachhbosoccer]

The best attacking player I'd ever seen. When I saw him go down injured in his own, I thought "it's over".
To see him come back like that in the World Cup, pure joy

[runealdo]

Got goosebumps from watching this. He was such an amazing player and the one who made me fall in love with football as a kid.

[zimzimma]

Pre injuries Ronaldo, particularly that year at Barcelona and his first at Inter was the greatest football player I have ever seen in my lifetime. Cristiano and Messi will probably correctly always be ranked higher for the totality of their careers, but for that all too brief moment in time, there has never been anyone like the fenomeno and there probably never will be again. He was the freakiest of all the freaks and an anomaly in that his actual footballing peak came through circumstance before he even had his 23rd birthday a time when most players are only starting to hit their stride.

Younger generations who never saw him week in and week out at that time and maybe caught the tail end of his career will never understand. Everytime he got the ball every single person in the stadium rose to their feet in anticipation. He was a best of all time level goalscorer who made goals for himself out of nothing like Messi, he had more pace and power than a prime Cristiano and he was a Ronaldinho level entertainer all rolled into one. The fact that he never reached what should have been his actual peak at 27/28 on because of his injuries and still managed to reinvent himself into a completely different player and still be one of the best of all time is a testament to how good he actually was.

[Mysterialic]

R9 is irreplaceable. A one-of-a-kind phenomenon.

[sluglow]

From 1996 to 1999 he was absolutely unstoppable! as a youngster watching him come along was unreal!! only Messi could compare to R9 since as far as defenders being in total fear, Only Cristiano & Henry was as dominant physically

[waleedgaming]

Goosebumps.

A generational talent and a Legend of the game.

[MrDumpster]

He was the best striker I’ve ever seen in his peak. His body and later, motivation failing him leaves us with an incomplete masterpiece, but crucially, it was still a masterpiece.

[teekay]

The fascinating thing about him was that
even with all those burdens affecting his game after 2004.
(hypothyroidism and 2 damaged knees)
he somehow managed to keep averaging at least 1 goal every 2 games in 3 different countries till the end of his career at 34.

He Kept scoring in Clasico’s, scored in the Milan derby, scored in the Brazilian Cup final. His talent is underrated.

[atomsk]

One of his highlight reels shows him doing the fastest, cleanest la roulette I've seen. It makes Zidane's la roulettes look slow and obvious. The guy was masterful.

[CerealBox]

What an incredible player. Made my childhood watching football really something else.