10 Things You Didn’t Know About Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo is one of football’s most popular personalities with millions of fans supporting him around the world.
The 27-year-old Portugal captain and Real Madrid superstar is open to the media on and off the pitch. Paparazzi are always around Cristiano Ronaldo to catch the latest story about him.Those who follow the former Manchester United ace might feel like they are so close to CR9. But do they really know everything about him? Here’s a chance to test your knowledge on Cristiano Ronaldo.
1. Cristiano Ronaldo’s Birthday Date
Cristiano Ronaldo was born in 1985, on February 5th. He shares his birthday with Whitney Houston’s ex-husband Bobby Brown and he shares his birthday date with Ivory Coast’s Sven Goran Eriksson.Coincidentally, Cristiano Ronaldo also shares his birthday date with Ivory Coast’s Sven Goran Eriksson against whom he’ll come up in Portugal’s first match at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa!
2. Cristiano Ronaldo’s First Club Trophy
Cristiano Ronaldo won his first trophy in 2004 with Manchester United in his first year at the club.He motivated and inspired the Red Devils to lift the 2003/2004 FA Cup after defeating Aston Villa and he opened the score sheet after 44 minutes.
3. Cristiano Ronaldo’s Name
He was actually born as Cristiano Dos Santos Aveiro, but his father who was a huge fan of then-USA president and former actor Ronald Reagan decided to give Cristiano the name “Ronaldo” as his second name, and he has carried his second name on his Real Madrid jersey.
4. Cristiano Ronaldo For Manchester United’s No. 1000 EPL goal
On the 29 October 2005, Manchester United lost to Middlesbrough 4-1.Ronaldo was the only scorer and that goal was the 1000th goal in the Premier League for Manchester United.
5. Cristiano Ronaldo, Portuguese Record Maker
He arrived ahead of the 2003-2004 season for a fee of 12.24 Million Pounds after impressing Sir Alex Ferguson and the rest of the United squad during a Sporting Lisbon vs Manchester United friendly match.Ronaldo was the first Portuguese to play for Manchester United since Ronaldo’s arrival, Alex Ferguson brought in more Portuguese-speaking players such Luis Nani, Anderson, and Fabio and Rafael Da Silva.
6. Cristiano Ronaldo’s Manchester United’s No. 7 Jersey
The former Sporting Lisbon young player was ordained by Sir Alex Ferguson to wear the Red Devils’ famous number 7 jersey which had been carried by legends such as Georges Best and David Beckham in the past.”After I joined, the manager asked me what number I would like. I said 28. But Ferguson said ‘No, you’re going to have No. 7,’ and the famous shirt was an extra source of motivation. I was forced to live up to such an honor” said Ronaldo.
7. Cristiano Ronaldo, The EPL Hero
Cristiano Ronaldo broke yet another record in January 2009 when he became the first player from the English Premier League to lift the FIFA World Player of the Year award.He beat Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Liverpool’s Fernando Torres to create a new record in the history of the English Premier League and of the FIFA World Player of the year award.Note that Cristiano Ronaldo was also the first Portuguese player to clinch that title since Luis Figo in 2001.
8. Cristiano Ronaldo, Diego Maradona’s Record Breaker
When Cristiano Ronaldo was presented by Florentino Perez as a Real Madrid player, the Santiago Bernabeu stadium counted almost 80,000 fans.This saw CR9 surpassing Diego Maradona’s record of 75,000 fans when the Argentine legend was presented as a Napoli player in 1984.
9. Cristiano Ronaldo’s Best Young Player Title in Germany 2006
Cristiano Ronaldo was actually voted as the best young player of the 2006 World Cup in Germany but then ended with no trophy in his hands because of his involvement in Rooney’s popular red card incident led multiple English supporters to mount a e-mail campaign against Ronaldo.
FIFA’s Technical Study Group consequently decided to strip Cristiano Ronaldo from his award and to offer it to Lucas Podolski who didn’t even finish second behind Ronaldo in the votes.Cristiano Ronaldo and his Portugal team finished fourth in Germany 2006.
10. Cristiano Ronaldo, FIFA Ferenc Puskas Award Winner
Cristiano Ronaldo now has his name written in the history of the FIFA Ferenc Puskas Award as the first player to win it.
The Puskas Award was created in October 2009 to honor the legendary Hungarian footballer Ferenc Puskas. It’s all about rewarding the player author of the most beautiful goal of the year.
Cristiano Ronaldo won it with his 40-yard screamer against Porto which fired Manchester United into the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League in 2009. This goal also ended Porto’s unbeaten record at the Dragao Stadium against English opposition.
In this competition which allowed fans from all over the world to chose and vote among a long list of goals scored, Cristiano Ronaldo came first with 17.68% of the votes. He topped Barcelona’s Andres Iniesta and Wolfsburg’s Grafite who came second and third with 15.64% and 13.39% of the votes respectively.
