Ronaldinho. See? You’re smiling already. Just thinking about the things he did and the way he did them, the way he was, gets you giggling. Look him up on YouTube and maybe you’ll fall for him all over again, a bit like all those defenders. Watch for long enough – it won’t take long – and you might even feel like standing to applaud, just like the Santiago Bernabéu did, an ovation for a Barcelona player, as if for all the rivalry they hadn’t so much been beaten by his genius as shared in it. Sergio Ramos was on the floor, they were on their feet. Cameras zoomed on a man in the north stand with a moustache and a cigarette hanging limp from his lip: Bloody hell, did you see what he just did?
Related: Golden Goal: Ronaldinho for Barcelona v Chelsea (2005) | Daniel Harris
(June 20, 1999) Hometown hero
He might not have been beautiful but his game was and no one was more attractive, a marketing dream Madrid missed.
Related: Farewell Ronaldinho, bobsleigh thrills and Dustin Johnson's miracle drive | Classic YouTube
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