Chapter 90: Heaven is jealous of talents
With a scream on the pitch at the San Siro, Ronaldo has fallen once again, having experienced many ups and downs since joining the Rossoneri for more than a year.
Ronaldo's experience at AC Milan has been tortuous, with one of the most repetitive and media-impacted transfers in the history of professional football.
A year before he officially arrived at Milan from Madrid for β¬7.5 million on 30 January 2007, AC Milan vice-president Galliani spent almost the entire summer courting him. Real Madrid has always insisted on the price of 25 million euros, and Galliani has repeatedly returned from Madrid without success.
When the "alien" officially wore the red and black striped shirt, some rumors about the transfer gradually spread. For example, Berlusconi called then Real Madrid manager Fabio Capello, who was likely to persuade him not to bring in a star whose career was on the decline.
There is also a phone call that Ronaldo has never made to Moratti, who may be able to put up with anything to do with the "alien" who was so fond of him at the beginning, except for one thing: to join AC Milan.
Moratti had a reasonable idea, and in 2000 Inter had waited for and helped a seriously injured Ronaldo return to the pitch, while the latter was about to join the city's rivals of the Blue and Black Army.
But after a few weeks, such rumours faded as Ronaldo started scoring goals in Serie A again.
AC Milan were delighted by the arrival of the 'alien', with their team-mates watching his familiar but inimitable movements up close at the training ground.
The Milan laboratory's expert group dedicated to the prevention of injuries also asserted that Ronaldo is still a phenomenal player, and even the previous ridicule and criticism of his overweight by the Spanish media were groundless, and the whole Shijie was quoting the nickname "Gordo" given to him by the Spanish media at the time.
The alien on the pitch is still in style, with 14 appearances and seven goals in half a season, including the goal of breaking the door of Inter Milan in the Milan derby, and the statistics and results have completely silenced many rumors and suspicions.
But the shadow of the injury is starting to show, and the knee muscle pain, although not terrible, is enough to believe that Ronaldo will never be able to fully return to his former form.
In the summer of 2007, Ronaldo reached a series of agreements and commitments with AC Milan regarding his future, but injuries caused some friction and rift between him and the club that had given him hope.
AC Milan have not done their best to stem criticism of Ronaldo's lifestyle, such as his love of good food and beautiful women, which is why such claims have been widely circulated.
While the alien tried to respond to such comments with his on-field performance, he also made his own statement, openly expressing distrust of AC Milan's prestigious Milan laboratory and being skeptical of "too much physical training".
On July 31 last year, after Ronnie's open training session at the San Siro, he strained his left thigh due to an ordinary big kick-off, and then for more than half a year, Ronnie, who had spent most of his time resting and recuperating from his injury, was depressed, and the Milan laboratory admitted that the original diagnosis of Ronnie's injury was wrong, which led to the escalation of suspicion between him and the Milan team doctors.
Ronaldo pinned all his hopes on the Brazilian national team doctor Renko, who did get a lot out of his conditioning around Christmas.
After returning from AC Milan's trip to Dubai during the winter break, Ronaldo's two goals against Napoli rekindled fans' expectations of the "alien", and although Pato made his first appearance at AC Milan and scored in that game, even Silvio Berlusconi said that the real phenomenon was still Ronaldo, who helped AC Milan win their first home league win of the new season.
But then Ronaldo began to enter the days of alternating muscle problems and sluggish form, I don't know if it is because of the number "13", which Westerners hate, in the game against Livorno, only thirteen minutes into the game, Ronaldon suddenly fell to the ground, the patellar tendon of his left knee was ruptured, and the same as his right knee eight years ago, this time people are really worried that it will no longer be his relationship with AC Milan that will be tested, but the entire career of the "alien".
Like in 2000, Ronaldo also suffered a knee injury this time and also needed surgery, but the difference is that eight years ago, his right knee was replaced by his current left knee.
However, even if the surgery is as successful as it was eight years ago, Ronaldo's recovery from his knee injury will certainly be very different, and even the most optimistic estimates suggest that it will take at least 10 months to a year before he can return to the game.
Compared to eight years ago, Ronaldo is no longer the original "alien", his situation has changed, he has gained weight, and he has not regained everyone's favorite proud status, which will affect his mood when he recovers from a knee injury.
And for a person who is recuperating from an injury, mood may be more important than surgery, medication or even other treatments. Ronaldo was 31 years old when he was injured, but he was only 24 years old when he was injured in 2000. As he grew older, Ronaldo's status in international football has changed dramatically.
Prior to 2000, Ronaldo won the Shijie Footballer of the Year award in 1996 and 1997, and in 1998 he was second in the Shijie Footballer of the Year award despite Brazil's poor performance in the Shijie Cup final in France.
Now, Ronaldo's glory days seem to be over, and he has been ranked in the top 10 of the Shijie Footballer of the Year award for three consecutive years, the last time he won the award was in 2002, when he won the Shijie Cup in South Korea and Japan.
In 2000, the young Ronaldo had a bright future if he was healed, and both Inter Milan and Brazil were hoping that he would recover from his injury as soon as possible.
At Inter Milan, Moratti saw Ronaldo as family, and now at AC Milan, Ronaldo and Berlusconi are certainly not that close.
At that time, Teixeira, president of the Brazilian Football Federation, was a staunch supporter of Ronaldo, and the reason why Ronaldo could make a brilliant return in the Korea-Japan Shijie Cup was also related to the Brazilian Football Federation and coach Scolari withstanding great pressure not to use Romario as a "lone wolf" and only trust Ronaldo.
Now Ronaldo and Teixeira are not as close as they used to be, Teixeira said that Fat Ronaldo was one of the culprits of Brazil's fiasco in the 2006 Shijie Cup, while Ronaldo publicly retorted that Brazil was not Teixeira's team alone.
Weight will also affect Ronaldo's knee recovery, in 2000, Ronaldo was 83 kilograms, but at that time many people thought that his excessive muscles were the main reason for his easy knee injury.
Now, even if you believe the figures published on AC Milan's official website, Fei Luo weighs at least 90 kilograms.
When he was injured in 2000, Ronaldo was an absolute mainstay in the Brazilian team, which can be said to be Ronaldo plus 10 other players.
Now, Ronaldo has not been called up to the national team for more than a year since the 2006 Shijie Cup.
It's not the first time Ronaldo has fallen on the pitch, and his career has been an alternation of injuries, slumps and achievements. Almost every time before, he found Liliang who got back on his feet.
Will the 31-year-old be able to get back on the pitch this time?
It's still a question mark.
The career of "Alien" is the envy of his peers, football has given him a lot, and he has also tasted the bitterness of injuries many times. When he arrived in Europe early and played for PSV Eindhoven, he felt the trouble of his knee, an extremely sensitive part of the profession. Several detailed examinations characterized the problem as a tibial protrusion, and he had to be suspended for a period of rest as ordered by the doctor.
On the eve of the 1998 Shijie Cup final, Ronaldo's sudden discomfort and barely playing the full 90 minutes and losing the championship are still puzzling.
But the alien injury nightmare was still to come, and on November 21, 1999, in Inter Milan's home match against Lecce, he suddenly fell to the ground in agony during one of his best "cycling" passes. The examination revealed a partial tear in the patellar tendon of his right knee, and he immediately underwent surgery and rested for six months.
On 12 April 2000, in the Coppa Italia final away to Lazio, Ronaldo made a comeback. But he had just come off the bench when his fragile right knee was weakened and he was carried away in tears. This complete rupture of the patellar tendon, another operation, and the expected recovery period of at least a year or more have raised fears that his career will stop there.
At the end of 2001, after nearly two long waits, countless doctors, hospitals, stretchers, and hospital beds, Ronaldo returned to the pitch and returned to Inter Milan, which was led by Cooper at the time.
Just when people were rejoicing at the return of the aliens and looking forward to sharing the fruits of their victory, the famous black May 5 of 2002 added another bitter hue to his career, and Inter Milan's league title flew away.
After suffering injuries and missing out on the league title, the 2002 Shijie Cup marked Ronaldo's true return, with seven goals as Ronaldo's top scorer.
After lifting the Shijie Cup with his teammates in Japan, Ronaldo said goodbye to his club Inter Milan, which had witnessed countless classic and wonderful moments on the pitch, and went to Real Madrid.
In Spain, he was also unable to escape injury, as he broke the fibrils of his left calf in the Champions Cup against Juventus in May 2003.
In 2004, muscle pain in the left thigh struck from time to time.
The Madrid derby in October 2005 resulted in a partial damage to his left ankle tissue.
On July 31, 2007, Ronaldo, who had moved to AC Milan, was in San Siro for an open training match with thousands of fans to celebrate the start of the new season.
Such a seemingly ridiculous injury, diagnosed with a left thigh flexor strain, was enough to cut off the first half of his 2007/08 season.
Ronaldo was supposed to come off the bench against Benfica in the Champions League at the end of last year but suffered a calf injury in the warm-up. Then there is this serious injury to the left knee, one left and one right during the two Milan teams during the patellar tendon ruptured successively, whether Ronaldo can heal will require unimaginable patience and liliang.
God is jealous of talent.
The childhood suffering of Kaka, Pato and others is very different from the repeated serious injuries of Ronaldo as an adult.
Everyone is asking, what happened to Ronaldo?
Will he still be able to stand up?
Will the alien, who will turn 32 this year, be completely crushed by this serious injury and say goodbye to football?
People can't think that if that happens, it will be sad for football.
After the game, no one cared about AC Milan's victory, Pato's goal was no longer pursued, and at this moment, all people cared about was Ronaldo's injury.
Ronaldo's sad, frightened, and desperate look and shouts could not disappear in front of the audience, but his painful and unbearable action of covering his face with his hands, what kind of mood did his hands cover?
Speaking after the game, Livorno goalkeeper Amelia said: "I could hear his bones breaking. β
Ronaldo's injury is sad, but it is also helpless, his left knee twisted when he scrambled for a high-altitude ball to land, and Gallant in front of him and Vidigal behind him did not foul him, which was another cruel "self-harm".
Counting the major injuries in the alien's career, the opponent has been very aggressive, the first two serious injuries at Inter were self-defeating, the leg was also strained during a shot in training at the beginning of the season, and the injury was re-injured before returning from the cold Lisbon. His physical fragility, the huge psychological shadow left by repeated injuries, and his innate talent controlled him.
It seems that Milan City has become a sad place for Ronaldo and a kind of penalty area, and the left and right knee injuries are exactly the same, which came separately when playing for Milan. Playing in the Netherlands and Spain, minor injuries continued, but a maximum of a month off.
After joining Milan, Ronaldo once said that he only lacked the Champions Cup in his career, and finally waited for the opportunity but suffered from it.
Last time, he took a year and a half off to make a strong comeback, but that was more than eight years ago, can Ronnie, who has passed the old age, survive this hurdle this time?
Ronaldo's injury has been a big concern for the whole football world, and it is a real injury that could be career-threatening, but everyone wants him to persevere.
AC Milan vice-president Galliani said: "Before Ronaldo joined AC Milan, I told him that when you come here, you feel loved and valued, and I still say that today, as everything that happened today has proven it. β
For the future, Galliani is reluctant to talk too much about it right now, the priority is Ronaldo's surgery, he said: "I won't say anything until I talk to the team doctor about it, we will wait for the results of the surgery, I don't know how long Ronaldo will be out now, it's a disaster and we have to treat it in the most haode way, we don't want yesterday to be the picture of Ronaldo's career, he is the most hode Brazilian player since Pele." β
AC Milan president Silvio Berlusconi said: "I just spoke to him on the phone and I told him that I brought him in because I trusted him, that today he will have surgery, that he is still young at 31 years old and that I am sure that in a few months he will still be able to return to the shijie championship as we know him." β
Real Madrid President CalderΓ³n also said: "On behalf of Real Madrid Club, I would like to send Ronaldo the best wishes. I still remember the happy times with Ronaldo, he is in a dark moment and I want to give him a hug on behalf of the whole team. β
Even Inter Milan's president Moratti is praying for Ronaldo: "I hope Ronaldo can get better as soon as possible, although his career is under threat as in 2000, he has a strong physique and a strong mental quality, plus the doctors know about him, and he has already experienced such injuries, so this time he should be able to come out of the shadows quickly." β
Deegan also said in an interview: "Ronaldo is a very good player, he is the darling of his time, I admire him very much, when he was in Atalanta, he used to watch TV to imitate his style of play, I am very sorry for his injury, I can understand his mood now, I have also experienced two serious injuries at the beginning, I hope he can come out of the shadow of injury and return to football." β
Ronaldo, who was in pain, was blessed by everyone, after an injury in 2000, he finally came back and won the Shijie Cup after two years of suffering, and now, people are expecting another miracle, at least not to let Ronaldo say goodbye tragically in the injury.
The big game is coming, but AC Milan has lost an important member at this time, and now Ancelotti can only rely on Pato and Gilardino in the front line, or at all, Pato.
With an incomplete squad and a tired Pato, AC Milan went to the Stadio Fraki to challenge the invincible Fiorentina, and even if the media was still stubbornly saying that they were looking forward to seeing Pato beat Digan, they were not optimistic about the prospects of AC Milan.
AC Milan have been chasing points lately, with only seven points clear of Juventus in fourth place, but it is difficult to predict what will happen next if their confidence is taken a hit at the Stadio Vlachi.
Let's not forget that after this game, they will travel to Portugal on Wednesday next week to play Benfica in a crucial battle for Champions League qualification.
It can be said that these two games will be related to the success or failure of AC Milan throughout the season.