The case with Ronaldo

In sports there are some prodigies who never reach their potential. No matter what they achieve, people always point out faults in them – someone is too old, someone is fat, someone doesn’t score fast enough, someone is not a match winner etc. etc. Ronaldo is one of such players. I remember him in France 98, hugely hyped, and he delivered until that final with France. What happened then, I cannot explain. But, that Brazil team was not the team I was following earlier. And this happens, when the player that the team thinks will deliver them to the glory, gets some unexplained fit. And he did suffer some serious injury after that.

But, then there was WorldCup 2002, where he delivered. And since then, I guess he is playing pretty well. Just check the list of top scorers in Spanish league over the years, and also the number of goals he scored for Real Madrid. I would say he is pretty consistant except for this season where he was injured.

2002/2003
----------------------
Name Total(Penalties)
Makaay (Deportivo) 39 (3)
Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 30 (0)
Raúl (Real Madrid) 25 (0)
Nihat (Real Sociedad) 23 (0)
Kluivert (Barcelona) 21 (1)
Dely Valdés (Málaga) 21 (6)
Kovacevic (Real Soc) 20 (1)
Saviola (Barcelona) 20 (0)
Eto'o (Mallorca) 19 (3)
Pandiani (Mallorca) 19 (6)
Diego Tristán (Deportivo) 19 (4)


2003/2004
----------------
Name Total(Penalties)
Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 31 (1)
Baptista (Sevilla) 25 (7)
Mista (Valencia) 24 (1)
Salva (Málaga) 22 (6)
Eto'o (Mallorca) 22 (6)
Ronaldinho (Barcelona) 22 (4)
Torres (Atlético) 21 (5)
Villa (Zaragoza) 21 (8)
Pandiani (Deportivo) 20 (1)
Raúl (Real Madrid) 20 (0)

2004/2005
--------------
Name Total (Penalties)
Eto'o (Barcelona) 28 (4)
Oliveira (Betis) 26 (2)
Forlán (Villarreal) 25 (0)
Baptista (Sevilla) 25 (7)
Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 24 (1)
Torres (Atlético) 20 (6)
Ezquerro (Athletic) 19 (0)
Riquelme (Villarreal) 18 (9)
Villa (Zaragoza) 18 (3)
Owen (Real Madrid) 16 (0)



2005/2006
----------------
Eto'o (Barcelona) 26 2 6 34 (1)
David Villa (Valencia) 25 2 1 28 (7)
Ronaldinho (Barcelona) 17 2 7 26 (10)
Diego Milito (Zaragoza) 15 6 0 21 (1)
Ewerthon (Zaragoza) 12 8 0 20 (1)
Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 14 1 0 15 (1)
Larsson (Barcelona) 10 4 1 15 (0)
Luis García (Espanyol) 10 3 2 15 (2)
Saviola (Sevilla) 9 0 6 15 (0)
Baiano (Celta) 13 1 0 14 (3)