Do you remember the first time soccer blew your mind? For me, it was Ronaldinho. Not even a specific clip, just Ronaldinho in general. The more and more I watched of him the more I realized that my understanding of soccer was so timidly different than what was really possible that it practically hurt; I needed to watch more highlights, and I swear I got high from them.
I thought the days of Ronaldinho blowing my mind were done, but this one goal, this legendary goal that many of you have already seen before, has come back to do it again:
I had seen that goal plenty of times before, it is his ultimate goal in my opinion, but I never really bothered to know the story behind it. I didn’t even know who it was scored against (Sevilla) until yesterday when I started digging into it. But now I know all about it, and I am dumbfounded.
That was Ronaldinho's first goal for Barcelona, and he scored it on his Camp Nou debut.
When I found that out I had to just stop.
Who even dreams of doing that? Who has the audacity to believe that when they first step onto the field at the Camp Nou, for Barcelona, that they will score a goal so stunning, so powerful, so magisterial that the crowd will worship them like they worship Messi today? MESSI DIDN’T EVEN DO THAT.
I can hear it now, "MEEEESI, MEEEESI." Photo: YouTube
All of the sudden the legend of Ronaldinho I knew and the fairy tale moment I had just discovered snowballed into a feeling of awe that I swear bordered on enlightenment: moments like that actually exist, in real life. You can make them happen, just like Ronaldinho did.
When I look at Ronaldinho in the video above I see the player that was about to conquer Europe. He had already won a World Cup. He was about to win La Liga, the Champions League, and the Ballon d’Or. He was driven, engaged, and above all he was having fun. He’s such a far cry from the lazy, fat, disinterested player he would eventually become.
Photo: YouTube
Somewhere along the way the magic faded, but it was never brighter than the first time he stepped onto the field at the Camp Nou.
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