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Tearful Ronaldo may have kicked the last ball of an illustrious career

A three-time Fifa World Player of the Year and the record World Cup Finals goalscorer, Ronaldo has enjoyed a sparkling career but it may have come to a premature end on Wednesday evening after rupturing a tendon in his knee during the 1-1 draw with Livorno.

He was left in tears and the early prognosis indicates that an untimely retirement may be on the cards, “I don’t want to say it’s the end of his career because only time can decide - all we can do is stand by him,” said Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti.

Only hours before the encounter, Ancelotti was insistent that Ronaldo would not be forced into retiring at the end of the season due to ongoing problems with his fitness. He has played just nineteen times in a year but looked in good form when on the field, building up hopes that he would again live up to his Il Fenomeno tag. At Inter, Ronaldo endured two serious injuries to his right knee - both of which almost finished his playing career – and he has now suffered a third, though this time to his left knee. It might be the final blow.

A club statement read, “AC Milan communicate that after the first checks made at the Galeazzi hospital in Milan to the player Ronaldo, a rupture to his kneecap ligament was found in his left knee.” General manager Adriano Galliani added, “To see him cry like that, it affects those who are on the pitch and the directors. It was a terrible feeling.” It means at least a year on the sidelines, but many spectators at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza believe it could be the last time he dons the red and black, and indeed perhaps any football shirt.

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It would prove an unsatisfactory end to magnificent career that peaked in 2002 when Ronaldo scored both goals in Brazil’s World Cup final triumph over Germany. He has never lifted the Champions League but is the only player, alongside the graceful Zinedine Zidane, to have won Fifa’s prestigious Player of the Year award on three occasions.

Ronaldo’s career has been an eventful one. Living the celebrity life off the pitch has meant he has always had critics, and his five years at Inter yielded just 69 starts, though the 49 goals he scored intimated his immense goalscoring talent. The 1998 World Cup final will always haunt him. Having suffered a convulsive fit the night before the final, he was pulled out of the starting eleven only to be later reinstated. Brazil were outplayed by France and Ronaldo was no more than an onlooker throughout. However, at just 21, he had plenty of time to make amends.

Before the drama of the final, Ronaldo had already notified the footballing world of his enormous potential in scoring four goals and widely impressing observers, but it was to be four more years before Ronaldo would be fit and able to again light-up a football field. The intervening years were written off with two serious knee injuries at Inter, but he made a comeback at the next World Cup - and he shone brighter than any other star at the tournament.

The Rio-born hitman won the Golden Shoe with a remarkable eight goals and earned a place in the game’s annals with the brace that ultimately won the Jules Rimet trophy for Brazil. He may have been sporting a bizarre haircut, but the enamoured supporters quickly forgave and forgot, hailing him as one of Brazil’s best ever forwards.

And despite being noticeably overweight at the 2006 World Cup, he still managed three goals and thus overtook Gerd Müller as the all-time World Cup Finals leading goalscorer.

Ronaldo’s peak years were spent at Real Madrid after a 39m euros transfer from the Nerazzurri, where he had become increasingly disillusioned with life, associating the club with his horrific injuries. His five years in the Spanish capital yielded an impressive 83 goals in 127 appearances, including a hat-trick in one of his greatest ever performances in a Champions League tie at Old Trafford. He was rapturously applauded off by the Manchester United faithful when he was substituted just before the final whistle.

Sadly, for one of the greatest strikers of his generation, Ronaldo’s career has been in steady decline since 2006. Dropped by new coach Dunga after the farce at the World Cup in Germany, his form with Real Madrid plummeted as Los Merengues continued to feel the effects of their botched galactico policy on the field. Unmotivated and impassive, he returned to Italy at the start of 2007 in an attempt to recapture his love for the beautiful game, as well as his form.

Yet further fitness woes frustrated all, not least Ronaldo, leading up to the third horror injury his knees have endured, on this occasion just three minutes after coming on as a second half substitute. Ironically, it was against Livorno almost exactly a year ago - 11 February 2007 - that Ronaldo made his much-anticipated debut for the Rossoneri, a game which brought hope that he could enjoy a glorious final few years at his adopted home. On the 13 February 2008, against Livorno, fitness worries prevented him from starting and the consensus was that he had little more playing time in Serie A before injury would hinder him from performing at the highest level any longer.

Yet the sight of him in tears was a deeply distressing and poignant manner in which to see him potentially wave goodbye to Italy for the last time. The obituary of his playing career might read, ‘immensely talented and prolific forward and World Cup winner, but one who never quite made it into the catalogue of football’s greats because of serious injuries.’

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