For several football fans around the world, no other striker comes close to Ronaldo Nazario. Brazil's legendary striker was the epitome of terror for any defender during his peak years, and it will always remain a sad mystery of "what if" Had the Brazilian's career not been drastically affected by cruel injuries.
While his time at Barcelona , Inter Milan, and Real Madrid are more widely known, we will be looking back at the earliest phase of his career in this article. Let us look back at Ronaldo R9's time with Cruzeiro and PSV.
The Cruzeiro years
A young Ronaldo had attracted the attention of several top clubs, but his agent had rejected offers from Botafogo and São Paulo. On the other hand, Ronaldo was unfortunately turned down by his childhood favorite club Flamengo. The reason for this was heartbreaking, as the Brazilian striker was forced to miss practice due to an inability to afford the fare for the hour-long bus ride.
However, Brazilian legend Jairzinho noticed the young Ronaldo's potential and helped him get a move to Cruzeiro. Ronaldo's agents accepted a €50,000 offer from the club.
Ronaldo scored 4 goals in his youth team debut for the club, which was seen as a sign of greater things to come. Within 3 months, Ronaldo got promoted to the first-team and made his debut on 25th May 1993 against Caldense in the Minas Gerais State Championship. It was eventually his 5 goals against Bahia on 7th November 1993 that brought national attention to the player.
This was followed by Ronaldo scoring his first senior goal for the club during a tour of Portugal. The goal came against Belenenses, and manager Carlos Alberto Silva was so impressed with the young Brazilian that he became a first-team regular.
Ronaldo's heroics during the tour even caught the attention of Portuguese club Porto, to the extent that they put in a $500,000 bid for the player. This was however rejected by Cruzeiro's club president César Masci.
Upon his return from the tournament, Ronaldo went on to score 20 goals. 8 of those came in the Supercopa Libertadores, where he finished as the tournament top scorer. Ronaldo scored 44 goals in 47 games with Cruzeiro, leading them to their first Copa do Brasil in 1993, and the Minas Gerais State Championship in 1994.
From Brazil to Holland
Ronaldo's heroics at Cruzeiro saw him called up for Brazil's 1994 FIFA World Cup side, although he didn't appear in any of the matches. It was after the tournament that Ronaldo joined Dutch side PSV from Cruzeiro, with fellow Brazilian compatriot Romário advising him to join the club.
The Brazilian made his PSV debut on 28th August 1994, where it only took him 10 minutes to score his first goal against Vitesse. This was followed by a brace in his home debut against Go Ahead Eagles. As his first season in the Netherlands concluded, Ronaldo finished that season with an astonishing 30 goals.
His heroics extended to Europe as well, with Ronaldo scoring a hat-trick against Bayer Leverkusen in the in the 1994–95 UEFA Cup. The legendary performance even caught the eye of Leverkusen striker and Germany World Cup winner Rudi Völler, who later admitted that he had never seen an 18 year old play this way.
Ronaldo was simply performing at an elite level that surpassed everyone else in his age group at the time, and the footballing world just looked at the young Brazilian sensation with awe.
His second season at PSV was overshadowed due to injuries, which caused him to miss most of the season. Despite this setback, he he still averaged nearly a goal a game, scoring 19 goals in 21 appearances. One of his memorable performances that season came in the UEFA Cup, as he scored 4 past Finnish side MyPa.
Ronaldo's time at PSV saw him become the Eredivisie top scorer in 1995 and win the Dutch Cup in 1996. The Brazilian also managed to score 54 goals in just 58 appearances during his 2 seasons at the club.
He left the club in 1996, as greater things awaited him, and the rest as we say is history.
