It was a little past 2 a.m. on Monday morning and I was preparing to call it a night after a weekend of couching in front of the TV playing witness to the spectacles of the FA Cup and the Spanish La Liga. The last hour had seen a war being waged between my eyelids that were on a mission to shut down and my fanatic football fan spirit that was desperate to catch every little kick or pass being played. The eyes definitely had it when?..

Palmeiras versus Corinthians! That was the sight that sent a ripple through my head and sleep, which had been so near was banished into far far away. In a microsecond keywords flashed in my head? Corinthians? Brazil?. striker? greatest? comeback?. and up I was. Forty five minutes of the game had been played but I knew I that over the next forty five, I would get a chance to watch again, the greatest Ronaldo that ever played the game.

Much before Sunday night's happy chance viewing of Ronaldo's second appearance since coming back from yet another injury, I had thought about dedicating this piece to him. On 4th March, he played 23 minutes against Itumbiara in a Copa do Barsil game which began his adventures with his seventh professional club. This was a little over a year after his knee gave way while playing for Milan in a one all draw against Livorno. This was a little over a year after many feared that the most feared striker of his generation would never play again. Such fears have plagued the "Phenomenon's" career many times over. Time and again injuries have threatened to take away a player who is the greatest striker I have seen, but each time Ronaldo has come back to cause destruction amongst defences till the next injury has brutally hit him. This time though, I was really afraid that he would not be able to make it back.

For starters, this was not the first time that he was out for a really long spell. Players often struggle to come back once from such crippling mishaps, would it be too much to expect this man to do it again? Then, away from the professional monitoring of European clubs, our man had not really been following the "Eduardo regime" to fitness.
A few months ago, after being arrested amongst transvestites who he was willing to pay for sex, he was pictured with a tummy that would have better suited a lady in an advanced state of pregnancy. Then, after training with and committing his undying love for Flamengo, he had controversially signed for rivals Corinthians and one was very unsure of the guidance and advice he was under.

The first time I got to see Ronaldo was in the 1998 World Cup. It is depressing that the images of a lost young boy struggling to figure out where he was and what to do with a football are the most vivid from that game against France. Up until that point, both Brazil and Ronaldo had lived up to the promise and a fairytale conclusion seemed destined, if not certain. While I had rooted for Argentina and loved Holland, the sight of the Brazilians and especially Ronaldo made me go "wow". Of course, Ronaldo was already a super star by then, but for me his superstardom had been limited to newspaper and magazine coverage. Now I had seen it!

Not until the next World Cup did I get my second chance to admire the guy whose career I had begun following with a deeper interest since France '98. In between, he had already lived another lifetime as a footballer and as the World Cup approached, Brazil were hardly the favorites and Ronaldo was being whispered of as a has-been. What he achieved over that month is history and even as I felt sad for Ollie Kahn (my favorite goalkeeper), I jumped with joy to celebrate the moment when a footballing God rightfully claimed what he had so mysteriously surrendered four years ago.

Yet, it was when he was playing for Real Madrid that I elevated him in my internal rankings list, from a favorite to the greatest. The Galacticos policy has been criticized and even ridiculed, yet it will be difficult for anyone to deny the quality of the game they played at their peak. Personally, I rate that team as the best I have seen, and any references to beautiful football are benchmarked against what THEY did at the height of their powers. Ronaldo may have done significant damage to opposing teams even if he had been in a team with ten cricketers impersonating football players, but with Zidane, Figo, Roberto Carlos etc. pulling the strings, he thrived. He scored when the others were fluent and when on rare occasions they failed to hit form, he was still there to produce moments of magic that turned the game.

I can't be bothered to check his statistics for Real or over his entire career, though I am sure they will be pretty amazing. What I have seen with my own two eyes is enough evidence of his superiority. There are many clinical finishers, many exquisite goal poachers, many powerful target men and yet more fancy dribblers. With Ronaldo, it was not just about the skills and the impact. It was the manner in which he did it, that just left goose bumps all over your body if you were caught watching. Invisible for long periods, he would suddenly do something that would shatter opponents. Sometimes a burst of pace so furious that locomotives would not catch him, sometimes a feint so delightful that the entire defence would be prostrate and on some other times a strike so furious that it would take a wall along with it if one came in the way.

Then, a Champion's League loss to Monaco and a sudden collapse as the season came to a close and that Madrid team was never the same again. Ronaldo too slumped with his peers and by the time World Cup 2006 arrived, Brazil was about Ronaldinho and Adriano. Ronaldo was in the squad but even that had raised eyebrows. Brazil were tame this time around and though Ronaldo was hardly player of the tournament, some goals and some assists provided evidence that though he was far from his best, he was not quite finished. Until that game against Livorno happened?

I had almost resigned myself to the prospect of only seeing the big man in action on Youtube, when news came in that he was back and before I knew it, here I was, eyes glued to the screen, a few minutes away from watching Ronaldo live again, twelve years on from the first time.

The Palmeiras home ground was packed and festive. More flesh was visible in the stands than at a protest march on a nudist beach, but flags, banners and multiple other paraphernalia provided the color that could have gone missing with the clothes. Palmeiras were dominating and a Corinthian defensive error early in the second half provided them with a very deserving lead. The world however, seemed to be focused completely on Ronaldo.

He was on the bench and every breath he took, he was watched. The producers seemed to be worried that following the action on the field may deprive viewers the chance of seeing Ronado raise an eyebrow or smile at a teammate. When he began his warm-up it felt like all else had ceased. And then just after the sixtieth minute, he came on.

From then till the final whistle, he was involved may be six times. Preferring to stay as close to the opposition areas as possible, he showed little interest in the happenings in his own half. His teammates were finding it hard to keep possession and took time to get the ball to him. Yet, each time he got it, there was electricity in the air. He was always quickly surrounded by opposition players and on those first few occasions, showed good touches, looked confident and even won his team a free kick. Then deep into injury time, Corinthians won a corner, and answering my prayers, Ronaldo popped up at the far post and nodded home the equalizer with the last touch of the game.
Overweight, older and far away from all the glamour of Europe, Ronaldo is back. There are no guarantees that he will ever be good enough to compete at the highest levels again and the threat of an injury recurrence will loom large, every minute he spends on the pitch. This though, is not the time to worry about what could go wrong. For the moment, I am just happy to celebrate the return of the "Phenomenon" and thank him and God for allowing us yet another moment of Ronaldo magic.

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