Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (February 5, 1985, Madeira) was born into a humble family. His father, José Dinis Aveiro was a worker in a grocery store, and was twenty years old when he married eighteen-year-old Maria Dolores dos Santos. She had had a difficult childhood, as her parents were poor and she suffered mistreatment. A year after their marriage they had their first daughter, Elma. Her father then had to go to the front to fight in Africa, where he spent ten months, and his second son was born while he was in the war. His name was Hugo, and when José Dinis returned home he was not the same, as he did not want to work and spent his days at the bar. She decided to leave to work in France, returning five months later and giving birth to her third child, Kátia. They came to live in a squat and there they had Cristiano Ronaldo, their fourth and last child. Maria Dolores even thought of having an abortion, as she did not know how she would be able to feed her children.

Siblings of Cristiano Ronaldo

Elma is the eldest of the four siblings, and was born in1973. After her birth, Hugo was the first son of the children. Born in 1975, he was addicted to drugs and promised Cristiano Ronaldo that if they won the tenth title he would give up drugs. Kátia (1977) was the third, and in 2005 she debuted as a singer with the nickname 'Ronalda'. Years later she would return as Kátia dos Santos, and even participated in 'Supervivientes', where she became known in Spain. The last to be born was Cristiano Ronaldo (1985), and his name is due to the former actor and President of the United States of America, Ronald Reagan. The relationship between them is good, and when Cristiano started earning money their situation changed for the better.

Childhood and beginnings in the world of soccer.

It was José Dinis who introduced young Cristiano to the world of soccer, when he was just eight years old. He started in 'La Andorinha', and his father decided that he would play for one of the best teams on the island of Madeira, Clube Desportivo Nacional. He remained there until he was sixteen, and after a trial at one of the country's big clubs, Sporting Club de Lisboa, he joined the team, having to go to live in the Portuguese capital even though he was still so young.At the age of seventeen he made his debut with Sporting, where he played the full match and made a very good impression.

The most important match of his career

In the pre-season of 2003, Sporting's José Alvalade Stadium was inaugurated in a friendly match against Manchester United. Cristiano Ronaldo had caused a great sensation, and he knew that this match was the key to making a name for himself in the big European leagues. That's why his teammates were always looking for him on the left wing, and Cristiano was constantly dribbling, dribbling and feinting at John O'Shea, the right-back in charge of covering the young winger. Cristiano himself assured DAZN afterwards that "scoring wasn't the important thing. If I had scored, a hundred teams would have been interested in me, but because I did it, only fifty were". According to Cristiano himself, Sir Alex Ferguson spoke to him after the match and showed his interest in Manchester United.

Early years at Manchester United

David Bechkam was the captain of the 'red devils', and that same summer he was transferred to Real Madrid, so Cristiano inherited the dorsal "7". He was signed on August 12 for 18 million euros, and played his first minutes four days later, in a Premier League match against Bolton, playing half an hour. He scored his first goal for England on November 1 against Portsmouth, from a direct free kick. That year they only won the FA Cup, where Ronaldo himself scored a goal. He scored six goals and provided nine assists in forty games.

Explosion with the 'red devils'.

In the 2004/05 season he played a total of fifty games and scored nine goals and provided ten assists. He was considered the best young player of the year 2005 according to FIFPro. In the following season he was the team's second top scorer in the Premier League with seventeen goals and won the national trophy. In 2007/2008 they repeated in winning the regular Premier League tournament, and also won the UEFA Champions League against Chelsea on penalties, with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring in the ninety minutes, although he missed on penalties. In addition, that same year he surpassed a record held by George Best, of scoring the most goals in a season (forty-two goals). He won the golden boot and the Golden Ball for the first time in his career, thus becoming the third Portuguese to do so after Eusébio (1965) and Luis Figo (2000). The 2008/2009 season was the Portuguese star's last at Old Trafford, and this time they were not so lucky and FC Barcelona snatched the UEFA Champions League from them.

Signing for Real Madrid

In the summer of 2009, Real Madrid signed Cristiano Ronaldo for 94 million euros, making him the most expensive player in the club's history. The club was not going through a good period, and they decided to entrust the presidency to Florentino Pérez, who that same year brought in other stars such as Kaká, Benzema and Xabi Alonso. On the day of his presentation, the Santiago Bernabéu was attended by 90,000 people, a historic full house. With his signing, the Cristiano-Messi rivalry began, at a time when Guardiola's Barcelona were winning everything. His first coach at Real Madrid was Manuel Pellegrini, and that year they did not win any trophy, despite Ronaldo scoring thirty-three goals in thirty-five games.

Mourinho's arrival

After the debacle of the season, Florentino Pérez hired Portuguese coach José Mourinho, who had just won the Champions League against Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabéu. With the Portuguese at the helm, they managed to win the Copa del Rey that year, with Cristiano Ronaldo's header against FC Barcelona. In 2011 he received the Golden Boot for the previous year, after scoring fifty-three goals in fifty-four games. That year they won the 100-point League, and Cristiano became the first player to score against every team in La Liga. The 2012/13 season only saw Real Madrid win the Spanish Super Cup, where Cristiano scored a goal in the first leg and another in the second leg to beat Futbol Club Barcelona. That season he scored fifty-five goals in fifty-five games.

Winners of the tenth

The 2013/2014 season for Real Madrid was a successful one. They won the coveted tenth European Cup and the Copa del Rey. Cristiano scored fifty-one goals in forty-seven games, and broke the Champions League record after scoring more than ten goals for three consecutive campaigns. He went on to score seventeen goals in eleven European Cup matches, making him the top scorer in a single season in history. This earned him his second Ballon d'Or.

2014/2015 season

In 2014/15 Cristiano Ronaldo won the European Super Cup against Sevilla, scoring the two winning goals. He also won the Club World Cup, and was proclaimed best player in Europe, in addition to surpassing Raúl as the top scorer in the Champions League, with seventy-one goals in one hundred and ten matches.He won his third Ballon d'Or and was recognized as the best player in the history of Portugal, in addition to winning the pichichi with forty-eight goals in La Liga.

Breaking records

Cristiano Ronaldo is an insatiable goal scorer, and surpassed Raúl González in 2015/2016 as the top scorer in the history of Real Madrid, with three hundred and twenty-three goals with the white shirt. In addition, he also became the all-time top scorer in La Liga, once again surpassing Raúl. That year he won his third Champions League, achieved in Milan against Atlético de Madrid, where his penalty was the one that gave Real Madrid the victory. At the end of the year he won his fourth Ballon d'Or ahead of Leo Messi. In 2016/2017 Real Madrid renewed the UEFA Champions League title, becoming the first team to do so twice in a row in the new format. They also won La Liga, which would be Cristiano's last with the team.

A surprising decision

In the 2017/2018 season Real Madrid were winners of as many as four titles (Spanish and European Super Cup, Club World Cup and Champions League). Cristiano scored forty-four goals in forty-four matches, and won 'The Best' Award given by FIFA. He also won his fifth Ballon d'Or, the last one to date. After winning his fifth Champions League, he announced that "it had been a pleasure to wear the Real Madrid shirt", and decided to leave Real Madrid.

Signing for Juventus

On July 10, 2018, his arrival at Juventus in exchange for 105 million euros was made official. With the 'rossonero' team he has won the Scudetto and the Italian Super Cup in 2018, scoring twenty-eight goals in forty-three games. In the current 2019/2020 campaign Cristiano has scored twenty-five goals in thirty-two matches.

With the Portuguese national team

After making his debut with the Portuguese national youth team at the age of seventeen, Cristiano Ronaldo was called up to the senior team in 2003, and took part in the 2004 European Championship played in Portugal, where they lost in the final to Greece. In the tournament he scored two goals in seven games. He later played in the 2006 World Cup, where they finished fourth after losing in the semifinals to France. Cristiano scored just one goal. He would do the same in Euro 2008, where they lost in the quarterfinals to the Netherlands. In the 2010 World Cup they lost in the round of 16 to Spain, and he scored only one goal. In Euro 2012 they lost again to Spain, this time in the semifinals after a penalty shootout in which the mistakes of his teammates prevented Cristiano from shooting the fifth. For the 2014 World Cup Portugal had to go to the playoff against Sweden, where Cristiano scored the four goals that qualified Portugal to go to the World Cup in Brazil. Once there, they did not make it past the group stage.

The joy would come at Euro 2016, where Portugal beat hosts France in the final, where Cristiano went off injured after a tackle by Dimitri Payet in the first half. In the 2018 World Cup in Russia they lost in the round of 16 to Uruguay, and in 2019 they won the Nations League against the Netherlands.

Spouse and family life

Cristiano Ronaldo had his first child nine years ago, and since 2017 has been in a relationship with Argentine model Georgina Rodriguez, with whom he has had three children: Alana Martina, Eva Maria and Mateo Ronaldo.

A biography by Jorge Cascón