The Day I Played with Ronaldo

year 2004. The year of the European Cup, the year of the Olympic Games.

It was midsummer in June, and the preparations for the 16 teams participating in the European Cup were in full swing. Of course, the focus of major European media reports was on this.

The Gallic rooster aiming to defend the title, the re-emerging German chariot, the Azzurri eager to create another glory, the uncrowned king the Orange Tulip team, the proud Three Lions England, the golden generation shining the last afterglow, and Ronaldinho making his debut on the international stage Hosts Portugal, hungry for a breakthrough Matador...there's plenty of news to write about.

However, the transfer rumors of the stars are also rampant. Like every summer, they attract people's attention and affect the hearts of fans.

Gazzetta dello Sport: The Milan duo are actively contacting Sao Paulo, trying to buy Brazilian supernova Ricardo. It is reported that Juventus and Real Madrid have also joined the competition.

Turin Sports Daily: Capello is preparing to bring the old player Emerson from Rome, and is also trying to introduce Ajax star Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Marca: Real Madrid is preparing for a major cleanup, intending to introduce Roma captain Totti and Samoel, and compete with the Milan duo for Brazilian star Ricardo.

Aspen News: Florentino offered Inter Milan an offer of 80 million euros to buy Ronaldo. If successful, he would break the world transfer fee record.

Daily Sports Daily: Barcelona has issued an invitation to the Portuguese star Deco who plays for Porto. If the latter joins, it will be the last piece of the puzzle for Barcelona to win the championship.

Echo: Irving's contract extension has not progressed, and he may seek a transfer.

The Independent: Everton star Wayne Rooney is expected to join Manchester United.

L'Equipe: Chelsea made an offer of 30 million euros for Marseille star Didier Drogba.

Kicker: Bayern Munich are interested in rebuilding, with Sao Paulo's Brazilian star Ricardo and Bayer Leverkusen's Lucio among their transfer targets.

These dazzling transfer news have different opinions, and some even contradict each other, making people at a loss and don't know what to believe.

For example, Riccardo was immediately associated with the Milan duo, and was almost signed by Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​and Bayern, and it was rumored that Chelsea was interested in him and joined the competition.

For Sao Paulo fans, this is destined to be a sad summer. Because they let Kaka go last year, and this year they will probably lose Riccardo.

After Kaka left,

Ricardo is already the well-deserved top card of Sao Paulo. He performed well this year and led the team to fight on multiple fronts. In 39 appearances, he scored 38 goals, led the team to defend the Sao Paulo state championship, temporarily occupied the top spot in the Brazilian League, and also entered the semi-finals in the Copa Libertadores. It's just that in the two rounds of the semi-finals, they were not lucky enough to be tied by the Caldas team from Colombia. In the final penalty shootout, they lost to their opponents 3:4 and missed the opportunity to defend this event.

How could Sao Paulo be willing to lose such a star!

Many fans poured into the Brafunda training base, holding up placards.

"Licardo, don't leave us!"

"We love you, Ricardo!"

"Please stay, Son of God!"

Ricardo was deeply moved, but no one could stop him from leaving this summer to pursue a higher level of football.

Juventio, the team's sports director, said in an interview: "We did receive a lot of offers, some of which had activated Ricardo's penalty clause, so we had to accept the offer. But please believe that, The club has no intention of selling its star player, and we are actively negotiating with Ricardo to find a solution."

This is throwing the pressure on Ricardo.

After discussing with Susan, Riccardo also accepted an interview: "I love Sao Paulo, I love the fans here, I love the weather here, I love the food here. There are two voices in my mind, one voice tells me, Stay and continue to give a good game to the fans here. Another voice told me that it was time to leave, to meet a recognized style of football and to try new challenges. It was a difficult decision, Sao Paulo is a A great club, with fans who love me, it's hard for me to make a decision, really. I'll have to think again."

Although there was no obvious statement in the words, the fans could also understand Ricardo's hint that he really wanted to leave.

Thousands of fans signed a petition asking Ricardo to stay.

There are also some fans who believe that Ricardo has made a lot of contributions to Sao Paulo. In the past two years, he played 123 times for the team, scored 124 goals, and contributed 69 assists. A lot of credit has been made. It was time for him to leave. He is not only the hope of Sao Paulo, but also the hope of Brazil. He needs to go to a higher level of competition environment, improve his ability, and lead Brazil to the World Cup in the future.

Under his leadership in the past two years, the team won 5 championships (including the Toyota Cup), and he owes nothing to Sao Paulo.

At the end of June, Gazzetta dello Sport announced that Ricardo has negotiated personal treatment with AC Milan, will sign a contract soon, and will join after the transfer window opens.

As soon as the news came out, many relatives, friends and reporters familiar with Licardo called to inquire.

At this time, Ricardo was participating in the Brazil team's training camp, preparing for the America's Cup.

In the face of inquiries, he always replied: he has not considered the transfer for the time being, and will make a decision after the America's Cup.

In fact, he has indeed gotten very close to a club in Milan, but not AC Milan.

It's just that the issue of personal treatment has not yet been negotiated with Inter Milan.

Farah suggested to him to play in the Continental Cup first. If he can perform well in the Copa America, he might be able to increase his advantage in the negotiation and get a higher salary.

This season Ricardo performed well at the club level, but his performance in the national team was not satisfactory. He participated in friendly matches against Haiti, Ireland, Hungary, France and World Cup qualifiers against Paraguay and Argentina, in which he started twice, only scoring one goal against Ireland and one against Argentina.

This result is not dazzling.

So we can only hope for the performance in the America's Cup.

...

In Europe, the European Cup is in full swing. This cup was unpopular and heroes came out in large numbers. England teenager Wayne Rooney, Dutch forward Ruud van Nistelrooy, and French spiritual leader Zidane all performed well. Italy and Spain failed to qualify for the group stage. Germany was eliminated by the Czech Republic, and the dark horse Greece is in the dark.

As the host Portugal lost 0:1 to Greece led by Rehagel in the final held at the Stadium of Light in Lisbon, and gave up the championship trophy, this European Cup also came to an end.

The Copa America is about to begin.