Sheer quality marks Ronaldo's touches

If patience really is the hallmark of genius, then we need have no more worries about Brazilian star Ronaldo. His contribution to Inter Milan's 1-0 home win against Juventus in last Sunday night's top-of-the-table clash between the current league leaders and the reigning Italian champions may have been alarmingly short on work-rate quantity but it was breathtakingly strong on match-winning quality.

We have said it before but it is worth repeating that "The Phenomenon," 21-year-old Ronaldo Luiz Nazario Da Lima, is an atypical Brazilian footballer. One tends to expect a Brazilian to base his game on a seemingly flawless and instinctive technique in which deft touch and tight control mesmerise opponents. Ronaldo, however, bases his matchwinning skills on a cold, calculating and rational use of two specific attributes - his lightning fast reflexes and his feline capacity for infinite patience.

Sunday night provided the classic example of quintessential Ronaldo. By half-time, he had touched the ball four or five times in a game in which he had been largely a spectator as his side were apparently being outplayed by Juventus. Two minutes into the second half, he turned the match on its head.

Receiving the ball wide on the right, Ronaldo first left the Uruguayan international Paolo Montero on his backside before accelerating away from the crude tackle of another Juventus defender Mark Iuliano. Having used his turbo-jet pace to break clear, Ronaldo then looked up to assess the situation and seeing his team mate, Frenchman Youri Djorkaeff, steaming in towards the far post, then laid on the perfect pass to outflank the defence and leave Djorkaeff with a relatively straightforward tap-in.

That one action was almost the sum total of Ronaldo's contribution to the night's soccer. That one action was literally match-winning, worth three points on the night and enough to see Inter stretch their league lead over second placed Juventus to four points. Inter have a long way to go before winning the title but, with Ronaldo in the side, they are certainly going to prove hard to beat.

In hindsight, it is hardly surprising to note that Inter's single league defeat of the season, 1-0 away to Udinese, occurred just before Christmas when Ronaldo was unavailable since he was off on international duty, playing for Brazil in the Confederations Cup in Saudi Arabia (Subsequently won by Brazil, thanks to hat-tricks from Romario and Ronaldo in a 6-0 final win against Australia).

That Confederations Cup tournament, too, provided a timely reminder of the fact that, just at the moment, no footballer on the planet is under more intense scrutiny than "The Phenomenon." For the duration of the tournament, Brazil were closeted away in a sort of protected zone on the sixth floor of the Marriot Hotel in Riad.

This was just as well because on the one occasion that Ronaldo ventured downstairs to the hotel lobby in a futile attempt to eat in the restaurant, he failed to make it across the 30 metres between the lift and the restaurant. His path was totally blocked by a madding crowd of journalists, fans, Arab princes and Middle East millionaires all wishing for an "exclusive interview."

Such intense interest in Ronaldo is all too understandable. With a $32 million price tag on his head and with after-tax earnings of a mere $11,000 per day, Ronaldo is an intriguingly expensive item. With a Brazilian shirt on his back in a World Cup year, he will inevitably be labelled the "Numero Uno" of France '98, the man to lead the reigning World champions to FIFA glory, yet again.

The Ronaldo hype factory has been working away at full throttle for over a year now, ever since he confirmed his undoubted promise with a spectacular season at Barcelona. That hype factory partly explains why, this New Year, Ronaldo picks up prize after prize.

Just before kick-off on Sunday night, he was formally presented with the "Golden Ball," awarded to the "Player of the Year" in the prestigious annual poll conducted by the magazine France Football. Next week in Paris, he will pick up another international award when he is named "FIFA World Player of the Year."

Ronaldo may well be muchhyped, burdened with the label of "most famous footballer in the world," but that is not to say that he is overrated. Take a look at the video from Sunday night, if you tend to disagree.

Where there is Ronaldo, there is speculation. If his girlfriend, Susana Werner ("Ronaldhina" to the media), goes home to Brazil without him, we are immediately informed that the couple's relationship is in crisis. If Barcelona send him a letter, the Catalan press immediately speculate that Barcelona want him back.

As he heads into the New Year, Ronaldo knows only too well that even more and even better is expected - from Inter fans in Italy and from Brazilian fans back home. So far, Ronaldo has done more than well, maintaining an admirable mental equilibrium both on and off the pitch. That level-headedness has a price, however, as he himself admitted last week.

Firstly a person, but secondly the most wanted footballer in circulation.