All About Cristiano

Cristiano Ronaldo Dos Santos Aveiro was born on the 25th February 1985 in Madeira, Portugal. The youngest of four children born to Maria Dolores dos Santos Aveiro and José Dinis Aveiro. He was named after his fathers favourite actor Ronald Reagan.

The island of Madeira was where Cristiano first learned to master his skills as a soccer player. He spent his early years playing for his local team where his father worked and by the time he turned 12 years old, he already made his name for himself as one of Madeira's top football players. It wasn't long before he started to catch the attention of other big Portuguese clubs. Among them were Porto and Boavista, however he eventually chose to play for Sporting which was a team he followed while growing up.

When he was 15, Ronaldo was diagnosed with a racing heart, a condition that might have forced him to give up playing football. The Sporting staff were made aware of the condition and Ronaldo's mother gave her authorisation for him to go into hospital. While there, he had an operation in which a laser was used to cauterise the area of his heart that was causing the problem. The surgery took place in the morning and Ronaldo was discharged from hospital by the end of the afternoon; he resumed training only a few days later.

At the end of his first season for Sporting it was reported that Liverpool had an interest in him but Cristiano insisted that although he was flattered to be considered for such a big club he was happy at sporting.

In the summer of 2003 Sporting played against Manchester United beating them 3-1. This is where Cristiano gathered the interest of Sir Alex Ferguson. a
After the game the players of Manchester United couldn't stop talking about the portuguese footballer and encouraged Alex Ferguson to sign him. He had apparently been following Cristiano for a while and agreed that it was the right time.

The deal saw Ronaldo become the most expensive teenage signing in Britain, with Manchester United paying £12.24million over two seasons, in two equal payments.

On the 12th August 2003, Cristiano Ronaldo became Manchester United's first ever Portuguese player and held up the famous Red shirt, with his favourite number 7 for all the press to see. Cristiano later admitted that he had asked for the shirt number 28 as he didn't feel he could live up to the previous players who had wore the number 7 shirt including David Beckham and George Best.

His first performance for the club was against Bolton. He entered the game with an hour gone and United 1-0 up. A standing ovation from the fans at old Trafford did nothing to settle his nerves, but he rewarded the fans for their trust. A man-of-the-match performance followed, and Ronaldo became legend. He had a hand in two of the goals, won a penalty, and mesmerised the Bolton defence.

The next day the media proclaimed him one of the best players ever for United, comparing him with Red-Legend George Best.

He scored his first goal for Manchester United with a free kick in a 3–0 win over Portsmouth on 1 November 2003. He scored United's 1000th Premier League goal on 29 October 2005 in a 4–1 loss to Middlesbrough.

Cristiano doesn't drink and the main reason for that is that his father was an alcoholic. In September 2005, Ronaldo was devastated when his father died of alcoholism-related liver problems. He died on the eve of Portugal's world cup qualifying match against Russia. Despite his personal trauma Cristiano bravely decided to play. Cristiano's mother Dolores spoke about how hard it was for Cristiano to see his father drinking himself to death saying "Time and time again Cristiano offered to pay to get him treatment but Dinis kept on drinking. He was still so young, just 52 when he died. Cristiano was very close to his dad."

A few months later his season was further disrupted by a rape allegation by a media-hungry woman which ended up being dropped due to lack of evidence. It may have been dropped, but it caused a major furore, and Ronaldo said at the end of the season that he did not enjoy being 'front page news'.

In the 2006 World Cup, Cristiano faced accusations regarding his sportsmanship when in a quarter-final match against England, he was heavily criticized for the sending off of his club team mate, Wayne Rooney who was playing for the England team. Wayne had stomped on Ricardo Carvalho in a scuffle for the ball and Cristiano ran over to the referee to protest at the foul. Wayne Rooney was sent off and Portugal won that match.

Later on in that game, Cristiano was seen winking at the Portugal bench and he immediately became England's most hated football player.

He was booed everywhere, protests and hate websites were made. It was chaotic and the whole of England were blaming him for Wayne Rooney's send-off. Despite Ronaldo and Rooney both claiming to still be friends the hate didn't stop and this is when Cristiano thought about leaving England and Manchester United, however at the encouragement of Alex Ferguson he was persuaded to stay.

In the first game of the season he was booed but it apparently only made him play harder as he scored twice and set another goal up! The phenomenon continued as he continued to light up the pitch scoring over 20 goals and eventually the boos died out. The fans started to forgive him due to the wins he was helping achieve.

In 2007, he won PFA Young Player of the Year, PFA Player of the Year, PFA Fans' Player of the Year, Portuguese Footballer of the Year, FWA Footballer of the Year, Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year and Manchester United's Players' Player of the Year. The year 2008 also saw him taking back the PFA Player Of The Year Award for the second time running.

That same year, Ronaldo also had to deny reports that he was leaving Manchester United to play for Spanish giants, Real Madrid. Although admitting he would like to play there, he insisted that he was staying at Manchester United.

Ronaldo's autobiography, titled Moments, was published in December 2007. Along with one of his sisters, Ronaldo opened a fashion boutique under the name "CR7" (his initials and shirt number). There are currently two CR7 store locations, both of which are in Portugal; one in Lisbon and the other in Madeira.

Although he denied time after time that he was leaving Manchester United the rumours continued and so the whole world was shocked when in June 2009 it was officially confirmed that Cristiano Ronaldo was transfering to Real Madrid. Real Madrid paid a record breaking £80 million for him making him the most expensive footballer in the world!

Cristiano Ronaldo was formally introduced to Real Madrid at the Bernabeu stadium, with a world record over 80,000 fans turning up to hear and see their newest star.

"I am very happy about being here. This is a dream come true; as a child I dreamt of playing for Real Madrid. I didn't expect the stadium to be packed. This is unbelievable. Thank you all. Hala Madrid!" was Cristiano's brief speech in front of the crowd.

Ronaldo made his Madrid debut on 21 July in a 1–0 win over Shamrock Rovers. His first goal came one week later on a penalty in Madrid's 4–2 LDU Quito. On 29 August, Ronaldo capped his La Liga debut with a goal, scoring Real's second from the penalty spot in a 3–2 home win against Deportivo La Coruña. On 15 September, Ronaldo scored his first Champions League goals, both on free kicks, against Zürich in a 5–2 win. He broke a Madrid club record when he scored in a league match against Villarreal and thus became the first ever player to score in his first four La Liga appearances.

He suffered an ankle injury on 10 October, while Ronaldo was on international duty with Portugal against Hungary, which kept him out until 25 November, which in turn caused him to miss both of Madrid's Champions League group stage matches against Milan. Ronaldo made his first post-injury start in a 1–0 El Clásico defeat to Barcelona on 29 November. On 6 December, he was sent off for the first time in his Madrid career in Madrid's 4–2 victory against Almería, a match which also saw him miss a penalty. He was carded first for removing his shirt during a goal celebration, then for kicking out at an opponent three minutes later.

On 9 June 2010, Madame Tussauds London unveiled Ronaldo's waxwork as part of the build-up to the World Cup. Ronaldo joined fellow footballers Steven Gerrard, Pelé and David Beckham at the event's venue.

Ronaldo failed to make an impact in the 2010 World Cup; after going scoreless in the qualifiers, his only goal came in Portugal's 7-0 group stage thrashing of North Korea on 21 June, which marked his first international goal in sixteen months. Portugal were ultimately eliminated by Spain in the round of sixteen.

On 15 June 2010, in Portugal's opening 2010 FIFA World Cup match against Côte d'Ivoire, Ronaldo was tackled by right-back Guy Demel, which led to an argument and both being booked. The next day, Portugal contacted FIFA to suggest that Ronaldo's yellow card be rescinded since he was "pulled into" the confrontation after having already moved away from the spot where he was tackled, but the appeal was rejected.

On July 3rd 2010, Cristiano announced via his facebook and twitter pages that he had become a father to a baby boy writing: “It is with great joy and emotion that I inform I have recently become father to a baby boy. As agreed with the baby's mother, who prefers to have her identity kept confidential, my son will be under my exclusive guardianship.

“No further information will be provided on this subject and I request everyone to fully respect my right to privacy (and that of the child) at least on issues as personal as these are.”

No other information was given and Cristiano has yet to reveal the baby or the mother's identity. The baby named Cristiano Jr was born on June 17th 2010 weighing 9lbs 8oz

This is the baby thought to be Cristiano Jr