@FootynewsRonaldo Nazario says a doctor in a hospital in the United States in 2000 told him to forget football. If they operated then, the man said, he might play golf and have a good life, but playing again was impossible. Ronaldo heard him, thanked him for the opinion and left. Then he went back to Paris to see his trusted doctor. That diagnosis was not going to be destiny. He knew the road would be extremely tough, that pain would be there and the risk enormous, but he also knew something stronger: as long as he kept believing, there was still hope. Two years before the 2002 World Cup he had torn his knee, and for almost everyone the chance of another World Cup was minimal. For everyone except him. He was convinced he would do everything necessary to be ready and pushed himself like never before, because no one believed he could play at the highest level again. No one bet on his return. He didn't need them to. Believing himself was enough.

@FootynewsRonaldo Nazario says a doctor in a hospital in the United States in 2000 told him to forget football. If they operated then, the man said, he might play golf and have a good life, but playing again was impossible. Ronaldo heard him, thanked him for the opinion and left. Then he went back to Paris to see his trusted doctor. That diagnosis was not going to be destiny. He knew the road would be extremely tough, that pain would be there and the risk enormous, but he also knew something stronger: as long as he kept believing, there was still hope. Two years before the 2002 World Cup he had torn his knee, and for almost everyone the chance of another World Cup was minimal. For everyone except him. He was convinced he would do everything necessary to be ready and pushed himself like never before, because no one believed he could play at the highest level again. No one bet on his return. He didn't need them to. Believing himself was enough.