What if Ronaldo (R9) had stayed at Barcelona?

[matherto]

47 goals in 49 games in 1996/1997.

Absolutely unstoppable force of nature.

I always think that going to Serie A exposed him to rougher treatment than in LaLiga at the time.

If he stayed at Barça does he get the injuries that he later suffered? Was he just too much physically for his own good and it was inevitable no matter where he played? Hey always said his physical attributes made sure his knee injuries were as drastically bad as they were because of how he was built. The sheer power and pace

What happens to Barça? Do they have a slump like they did in 99-03? Do they keep Figo? Does Ronaldo still follow him to Real? Does he go first and Figo stays? Do they link Brazil’s front three from 2002 at club level, perhaps Rivaldo stays and Ronaldinho comes in when Laporte takes over. Imagine that with an emerging Xavi and Iniesta behind it.

The Galactico project was probably gonna happen either way but the knock on effect...do we keep Becks? Do we not get Cristiano? Do we get Ronaldinho? We’d have probably bought Kluivert in 1998 instead of Yorke too so that affects the treble year.

I’d like to think he stays and he carries on banging them in at around a goal a game for years but it never happened and he has a completely different career, still great but tarred with injuries, form, health and partying instead.

I know we can’t actually answer these questions but it’s an interesting one.

 

[horsechoker]

How well balanced were Barca back then? I think he could've won a CL with them in the right circumstances. I think they had a turbulent time with managers though so LVG probably would've sold him to Inter.

 

[Raoul]

His injuries would've still happened and his career would've gone down about the same as it did.

 

[Big Ben Foster]

His injuries would've still happened and his career would've gone down about the same as it did.

I'd agree with this. His knee injury at Inter was a culmination of chronic knee problems, not a one-off freak incident.

 

[youmeletsfly]

I'd agree with this. His knee injury at Inter was a culmination of chronic knee problems, not a one-off freak incident.

He used to party and drink all the time, that's what fecked him up really fast.

 

[harms]

The issue was:
1. His lifestyle (and it was horrendous at Barca; the move to glamorous Milan didn’t help, but he still spent most of his nights out, partying, drinking etc. even before it happened)
2. The combination of his pace and power that made him such a threat — even at his best weight he was really huge and his knees weren’t able to cope with the pressure (especially when he did those sudden twists and turns)

Obviously he was brutally kicked in every Serie A game, but Spanish football wasn’t much better in that regard — it was equally vile, just the actual quality of defenders was on a different level.

I’m glad that he went there and we’ve seen him at his best against some of the toughest defensive units of all-time week in week out, toying with them like they were some kids.

Any excuse to post this

 

[harms]

How well balanced were Barca back then? I think he could've won a CL with them in the right circumstances. I think they had a turbulent time with managers though so LVG probably would've sold him to Inter.

Not at all, it was a really poor and unbalanced side, albeit with some quality players like Figo (old Stoichkov/young Xavi and Puyol breaking through).

I wonder how they would’ve looked with Ronaldo, Figo and Rivaldo playing together, but they probably wouldn’t have been able to afford Rivaldo’s wages with Ronaldo still on board.

 

[JPRouve]

The issue was:
1. His lifestyle (and it was horrendous at Barca; the move to glamorous Milan didn’t help, but he still spent most of his nights out, partying, drinking etc. even before it happened)
2. The combination of his pace and power that made him such a threat — even at his best weight he was really huge and his knees weren’t able to cope with the pressure (especially when he did those sudden twists and turns)

Obviously he was brutally kicked in every Serie A game, but Spanish football wasn’t much better in that regard — it was equally vile, just the actual quality of defenders was on a different level.

I’m glad that he went there and we’ve seen him at his best against some of the toughest defensive units of all-time week in week out, toying with them like they were some kids.

Any excuse to post this

I totally forgot that conversation, the way they give each others advice is so simple.

 

[Hoof the ball]

Some important points from his physiotherapist.

What made Ronaldo such a special athlete?
Ronaldo was genetically gifted with special muscle fibres, which produced a huge power output, We performed several speed tests on him at Inter and we reached the conclusion that Ronaldo didn’t just have speed, but also incredible co-ordination. The way that he was able to dart from left to right was pure co-ordination. The tests demonstrated that he would probably be able to do 100 metres in 10.2 or 10.3 seconds, which is incredible when Usain Bolt ran that distance in 9.8 seconds. He also had fantastic strength – which was another genetic gift. When you combine that with the years of football training he developed the perfect combination of speed, strength, power and co-ordination.

Ronaldo is often called explosive – did the force he produced also make him vulnerable to injury?
There is no doubt about that. Ronaldo had a problem called trochlear dysplasia. This makes the relationship between the kneecap and the femur a bit unstable. There is no direct surgery for that so the kneecap keeps, for a lack of a better word, “dancing” on the femur. As a result, Ronaldo needed constant monitoring so he could keep it as stable as possible, because this was a bone dysfunction of his own development.

Had he been slower, would he have had the same problems with his body?
Athletes that have a lot of power are also at risk of muscle and tendon injuries. Slow individuals normally don’t suffer these types of problems. But Ronaldo’s injuries weren’t because his body was weak, but because of his explosive capacity. He didn’t just run fast in a straight line, he also changed direction at incredible speed. There were several moments when Ronaldo fell, stood up, and then moved from left to right very fast…so it was obvious, by the that way he played, that injuries were always a possibility.

In 1999 he suffered a serious knee injury. What exactly happened and how did he recover?
At the beginning of 1999, Inter had already called Dr Saillant to monitor Ronaldo’s tendons, both in the right and the left kneecap. It was known that the degeneration was relatively big but no one thought about surgery before his injury. The injury happened on November 23, 1999. After 20 minutes, Ronaldo was about to spin and then suddenly stopped. I was on the bench and at that moment we noticed that something wasn’t right. He asked to be replaced and walked normally but when I arrived in the locker room and bent his knee I saw that the centre of the tendon was ripped. This was Ronaldo’s first injury. I did the monitoring and then he went to Paris to have an operation with Dr Saillant. We then did all the rehabilitation monitoring and at the beginning of every month we would go to Paris.

Around the beginning of April, we started to think that he was training normally. He was playing and had already been released by the doctor who performed the surgery and told he could possibly make his return to the pitch. But Inter are very meticulous with rehabilitation, so at the beginning of that month we travelled, with Dr. Franco Combi, who was Inter’s doctor at the time, to talk to Dr. Saillant about the possibility of Ronaldo playing in the final of the Italian Cup against Lazio or the match against Juventus which was two weeks later.

We took Ronaldo to Paris to see the doctor and he said that it was okay for him to play in the match against Lazio. We asked him how much time he would be able to play for and he said 15 to 20 minutes. When he returned for that match, he ripped the knee-cap tendon completely. His knee-cap actually exploded and it ended up in the middle of his thigh.

Were his injuries the worst you’ve encountered in football?
Yes. If I showed you the photos I have from this case you wouldn’t believe it. Right after the surgery his knee was the size of a football ball. There were three or four tubes draining the blood, it was something unbelievable. We had a few moments at the hospital when he was crying because he wanted morphine to stop the intensity of pain. One day in the middle of the night he called me and asked: “tell me I am going to be able to play football again, please don’t lie to me”. I was there, at the beginning of a rehabilitation when the whole world was saying that he wouldn’t be able to. The science said it was unlikely and the doctors had doubts. I had a unique experience and I thank God for having the opportunity to overcome that with him and that helped me a lot professionally.

Do you believe Ronaldo was pressured to return too quickly from injury by clubs and sponsors?
No. Well, I can tell you from the moment I met him in 1996 until 2003, which was when I was monitoring him, that this is not correct, It’s not true. If you see, for example, that type of serious tendon injury, some clubs get their players back in eight to nine months. But Inter waited for a year so he could have a pre-season of almost 50 days, so no, I don’t believe that.

How impressed were you with his mental strength?
I often compare Ronaldo to a phoenix. He has this ability to rise when everyone thinks he won’t be able to. Even though he was young, Ronaldo was always mentally strong, he was always very focused on his goals and reaching them. We had a lot of serious conversations about his injuries but he dealt with his problems extraordinarily well.

Was there a chance he wouldn’t return from such a serious injury?
It was really difficult. He had already come back from his first surgery, which he already thought might stop him from playing. Then he had a serious injury with a complete rupture of his knee-cap tendon, which is a more complicated surgery which had a questionable rate of return at the time. Everyone knew that. It was questioned whether he would come back or not, and if he did there was a chance he wouldn’t be a high-level player anymore. We were very careful to make sure he didn’t return too soon. The goal was for him to still have a long career, and that’s why he missed the 2000/2001 season.

How hard did he have work to return for the 2002 World Cup?
It was incredibly hard for him. He had to work for nine to 10 hours every single day without a break. There were a lot of doubts about him coming back, so he had to fight not only with himself but also the media, who predicted that his career was over. Ronaldo eventually came back in August, started to play, and scored a goal, but we knew that when a player is injured for such a long time, training sessions and matches are very different. So we knew that there was the possibility of another muscle injury, which is what happened.

But around 15 days later he came back and scored goal after goal. From September to October and October to February he kept playing and then in February he got injured again in Palma de Maiorca. At that point he started he questioning whether he would return in time for the World Cup and whether he would be able to play or not. We asked Inter’s president at that time to bring Ronaldo to Brazil because we thought it was an important moment for him to be around friends and family.



It was his second muscle injury in five months, which wasn’t so serious, but we thought he should be around his family. We stayed in Brazil for 15 days and returned at the beginning of March. He played the whole month of March, April and May and Inter had a great season. Ronaldo scored around 14 goals. So, he reached a point where he played basically the whole Serie A season, scored several goals and was moving normally. So, the Brazilian team got Ronaldo for the World Cup and the rest is history.

Technically he was still brilliant, but was his knee ever the same again after those injuries?
A knee that undergoes surgery can get better or worse, but it won’t ever be the same. I said to him that the moment he thinks his right knee, which was the one that needed surgery, is better than his left knee, that’s when he will be completely cured. That is exactly what happened a short while after his return.

Did the trauma of his injuries change him as a person?
Yes, there is no doubt about that. The guy went through two injuries, a serious one and an extremely serious one. When Dr Saillant finished the operation, we had a meeting with the board of Inter, and the only athlete they remembered that had been through a surgery like that was Paulo from Portugal, and he didn’t manage to return.


So, Ronaldo broke a huge paradigm in science in terms of a player returning from an injury like that, a complete rupture of the knee-cap tendons, and he returned to a high level again. So, the mental strength that he had to overcome all the barriers…people don’t really know about the pain and the suffering. The pain he had in bending the leg was excruciating. The fear of rupturing it again was also great, and most of all he fear of not being able to function again, and score goals was huge. All these struggles made him more mature.

 

[Oranges038]

LVG would probably have played him right wing.

He would have got fed up and moved to Italy anyway.

 

[Big Ben Foster]

The issue was:
1. His lifestyle (and it was horrendous at Barca; the move to glamorous Milan didn’t help, but he still spent most of his nights out, partying, drinking etc. even before it happened)
2. The combination of his pace and power that made him such a threat — even at his best weight he was really huge and his knees weren’t able to cope with the pressure (especially when he did those sudden twists and turns)

Obviously he was brutally kicked in every Serie A game, but Spanish football wasn’t much better in that regard — it was equally vile, just the actual quality of defenders was on a different level.

I’m glad that he went there and we’ve seen him at his best against some of the toughest defensive units of all-time week in week out, toying with them like they were some kids.

Any excuse to post this

Brilliant video, hadn't seen it before. Thanks for posting it.

 

[horsechoker]

LVG would probably have played him right wing.

He would have got fed up and moved to Italy anyway.

Because of his difficult personality?

 

[90 + 5min]

His raw talent and raw strenght/pace was just amazing. Sure, there was and still is better overall players but what a player. I would say Mbappe x 3.

 

[Big Ben Foster]

Because of his difficult personality?

Saw this reply coming from a mile away.

 

[kouroux]

He would have been the GOAT if he didn't suffer those horrible injuries

 

[JPRouve]

He would have been the GOAT if he didn't suffer those horrible injuries

I love the fact that being a goat has a totally different meaning in french.

 

[MalcolmTucker]

Some important points from his physiotherapist.

Great insight. Cheers

 

[Hoof the ball]

His raw talent and raw strenght/pace was just amazing. Sure, there was and still is better overall players but what a player. I would say Mbappe x 3.

Nah, nah. He had it all. Passing range, power, pace, technical ability, dribbling, passing vision, spatial awareness, finishing. He was more complete than almost any striker I've ever seen. He was truly robbed by his injuries. We was truly robbed too. Also, almost no one rounded the keeper as much as him. Feck, no one rounds the keeper anymore and there's an absolute ton of space to do it with high lines these days. Absolute phenom, and I'm not talking about the Undertaker.

 

[90 + 5min]

Nah, nah. He had it all. Passing range, power, pace, technical ability, dribbling, passing vision, spatial awareness, finishing. He was more complete than almost any striker I've ever seen. He was truly robbed by his injuries. We was truly robbed too. Also, almost no one rounded the keeper as much as him. Feck, no one rounds the keeper anymore and there's an absolute ton of space to do it with high lines these days. Absolute phenom, and I'm not talking about the Undertaker.

I'm not sure he had it "all". But we can agree that he was absolute Phenomenon. Shame that injuries was his friend. That picture when he go down with knee injury in Inter shirt was so sad.

 

[youngrell]

Some important points from his physiotherapist.

Jeez, not sure I can walk after reading that

Goes to show his level of commitment, which is probably one thing people usually hold against him funnily enough.

 

[MalcolmTucker]

Goes to show his level of commitment, which is probably one thing people usually hold against him funnily enough.

Like Maradona before him and Ronaldinho after him, he loved the extracurricular activities but absolutely loved being on the pitch the most and you can tell by the way all 3 played the game

 

[Oranges038]

Because of his difficult personality?

Only when he was hungry.

 

[Spoony]

A freak of nature. You see players doing pointless step overs but Ronaldo used to send players the wrong way in seconds. So much pace, agility, close control, power and acceleration. Couldn't head for toffee mind you. Also had dodgy teeth.

 

[Matt007a]

His knees were a ticking time bomb so it probably wouldn’t have made a huge difference to his career and troubles. Maybe he wouldn’t have ended up at Madrid though.

It’s mad to think the best player of the 90s is considered a bit of a “what if”. It’s like if Messi was ruined by injury at 21. Imagine what we would have missed out on!

 

[GueRed]

The start of his knee problems started in February 1996 when he underwent surgery in Holland while with PSV Eindhoven for a rotular tendon problem on his right knee.

A few years later in Italy some argued that that operation in '96 lay root of the problem..

A freak of nature. You see players doing pointless step overs but Ronaldo used to send players the wrong way in seconds. So much pace, agility, close control, power and acceleration. Couldn't head for toffee mind you. Also had dodgy teeth.

Leading sports surgeon Moises Cohen in 2000 said: "If we compare the Ronaldo of PSV with the Ronaldo who went on the field against Lazio (April 2000), we can see that they are two different people. Only his teeth are the same."

Lad built up too much. Under that much weight his dodgy knees eventually gave way...again.

 

[GueRed]

1996 - 1998 Ronaldo for me is the best attacking player I have ever seen.

Definitely best number 9.

A fecking Phenom.

 

[Hoof the ball]

The start of his knee problems started in February 1996 when he underwent surgery in Holland while with PSV Eindhoven for a rotular tendon problem on his right knee.

A few years later in Italy some argued that that operation in '96 lay root of the problem..



Leading sports surgeon Moises Cohen in 2000 said: "If we compare the Ronaldo of PSV with the Ronaldo who went on the field against Lazio (April 2000), we can see that they are two different people. Only his teeth are the same."

Lad built up too much. Under that much weight his dodgy knees eventually gave way...again.

Yes, but it's not a normal circumstance. This wasn't just a case of some footballer who gained weight because of partying (like Ronaldinho). Ronaldo found out whilst at AC Milan that he had hypothyroidism. The diagnosis was too little, too late at age 30.

 

[Lay]

He had a serious injury at PSV if i recall. So he would have still got those injuries unfortunately.

 

[Sayros]

He had a serious injury at PSV if i recall. So he would have still got those injuries unfortunately.

Couldn't have been that serious given what he did after, but it definitely was an omen for what was to come. I just don't think the human body could handle what R9 was doing with his mass, at his speed, and with his change of direction.

 

[stevoc]

Why did Barcelona sell him after that season for what a £4m profit?

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

He would have been the GOAT if he didn't suffer those horrible injuries

People argue this, but I don't still see what strong argument he'd have over Peak Messi as a player.

And that's just Messi. Not even counting Maradona or Pele.

 

[matherto]

The start of his knee problems started in February 1996 when he underwent surgery in Holland while with PSV Eindhoven for a rotular tendon problem on his right knee.

A few years later in Italy some argued that that operation in '96 lay root of the problem..



Leading sports surgeon Moises Cohen in 2000 said: "If we compare the Ronaldo of PSV with the Ronaldo who went on the field against Lazio (April 2000), we can see that they are two different people. Only his teeth are the same."

Lad built up too much. Under that much weight his dodgy knees eventually gave way...again.

He had a serious injury at PSV if i recall. So he would have still got those injuries unfortunately.

I didn’t realise this. Obviously I’ve seen the goals but don’t know too much about his career at PSV so this is news to me. Was always going to happen then regardless of where he played, just a matter of when. The quotes from his physio I’m sure I’ve seen before but they still make for astonishing reading. The scale of the injury and the fight back from such a thing is incredible.

What a shame that he was always fated to have those issues then, as put above both he as a player/person and us as spectators were absolutely robbed of him growing from the force he already was. Make your arguments about a different player being better but there’s nobody I’ve feared more as an opposing player and nobody I’d rather watch than Il Fenomeno. He was spellbinding.

 

[matherto]

Now I’m sure this could very well be bollocks but I’ve just googled ‘Ronaldo PSV knee injury and this came up:

https://www.quora.com/Did-PSV-injec...-cause-his-knee-injuries-and-thyroid-disorder

There’s always talks around players and teams doping and especially in the 90’s a lot of Serie A clubs have been talked about as giving players things to take that they didn’t know what they were or what they were for. Is it so outlandish given the freak of nature he was that it was artificial?

 

[Charlie Foley]

Because of his difficult personality?

NATIONAL
NATIONAL
NATIONAL LEVEL

SORRY ITS THE PHONE

 

[mshnsh]

At 19/20, only Messi was better with regards to all round play;the respective individual performances vs the best teams in la liga are available on YouTube and Messi is unquestionably better. Watch the before questioning my comment.

It's another story if you consider the number of goals scored but than Messi played as a winger at that age whereas Ronaldo played as a number 9 so its apples and oranges in that regard; We know what happened once he moved to false 9. People forget the recurrent injuries that Messi had at 19/20/21 years age.

 

[paraguayo]

At 19/20, only Messi was better with regards to all round play;the respective individual performances vs the best teams in la liga are available on YouTube and Messi is unquestionably better. Watch the before questioning my comment.

It's another story if you consider the number of goals scored but than Messi played as a winger at that age whereas Ronaldo played as a number 9 so its apples and oranges in that regard; We know what happened once he moved to false 9. People forget the recurrent injuries that Messi had at 19/20/21 years age.

You really think 2007 Messi is better than R9? Almost all of R9's highlight reel comes from him at that age.

Messi was on Pekerman's bench 1 year earlier in the World Cup, while R9 was a one man force reaching the final in 1998 at similar age.

The Cr7/Messi fanboys all want their cakes and eat it too, its one thing to say their career was better, which it was, but there are people here saying CR7 was a better dribbler, and now someone saying teenage Messi was better. Nonsense

 

[RedRonaldo]

The way he play football (tendency to always carry the ball in his feet with unstoppable pace, power, dribbling), adding to that his lifestyle and lack of discipline to sustain, he probably would still end up the same - very high peak, but couldn’t last long, and will end up badly injured a few times anyway)

 

[kouroux]

People argue this, but I don't still see what strong argument he'd have over Peak Messi as a player.

And that's just Messi. Not even counting Maradona or Pele.

Messi isn't the GOAT for me ^^

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

Messi isn't the GOAT for me ^^

He isn't for me either.

That's why I mentioned Pele and Maradona at the end.

 

[Spoony]

I wish we had a peak Ronaldo at OT. Imagine watching him flattening defences. I would've have even cared about winning and losing. Maradona is the best I've seen, but I suppose in terms of style and position Pele is/was comparable...now if he was better than Ronaldo at his best...then he must have other worldly. Shame I didn't get to see him play.