ronaldinho legends
The smile that changed everything

With his trademark goal celebration and broad smile, Ronaldinho joined Barça at the age of 23 in the summer of 2003. The Brazilian was the catalyst for the return of the good times to FC Barcelona after a barren spell of and during his five seasons with the Club he won the league title twice and the Champions League before leaving for AC Milan in 2008. 

Ronaldinho signed for Barça in 2003 from French club PSG where he had spent three successful seasons and had turned himself into one of the most promising young players in world football. The Brazilian's arrival at FC Barcelona sparked a new dawn with Frank Rijkaard as coach and in 2005 the blaugranes claimed the league championship for the first time in six seasons.  The following campaign a Ronaldinho inspired Barça side scaled ever greater heights, not only retaining the league title but also claiming a second Champions League crown with a 2-1 win over Arsenal in the final in Paris in May 2006. Unfortunately, injury plagued his final two seasons with the Club and after having scored 98 goals in 207 matches as a blaugrana, Ronaldinho left for Italy and AC Milan in the summer of 2003. After three years in Serie A, the striker spent the majority of the remainder of his career playing in his native Brazil with Fluminense being the final port of call before he finally hung up his boots. 

Honours: 

2 Ligas (2005 and 2006)

1 Champions League (2006)

2 Spanish Super Cups (2005 and 2006)

Other honours: 

FIFA World Player (2004 and 2005)

Ballon d'Or (2005)

World Cuo winner in 2002 with Brazil 

97 caps for Brazil and 33 international goals

Place of birth
Porto Alegre (Brazil)
Date of birth
21/03/1980
Close article

Related to this article