When we last reported on Ronaldinho Gaucho, it was to alert you that the great Brazilian No. 10 was delaying his decision on where to play next until after Carnival.
Everybody loves Ronaldinho, and everybody especially loves him on Ecuador.
Ecuadorian team Barcelona (no we are not making that name up) brought Dinho in to be the guest of honor at their big season kickoff celebration thingy, and the person who loved the former Barcelona (the Spain version) man the most there might have been the referee.
Ronaldinho is one of the best attacking midfielders of the modern era, up there with Kaka, Zinedine Zidane, Andres Iniesta, Pavel Nedved and others. That's exceptional company to be in, and he has now anointed a player he believes will join that group: fellow Brazilian and Liverpool man Roberto Firmino.
From The Mirror:
"I didn't ever question if he would be a great player for Liverpool, I knew that he would be," said the World Cup winner.
Kobe Bryant has retired, and as much as basketball fans will miss him and his unadulterated desire to win, we all now get to experience what I like to call “Victory Lap Kobe.” Victory Lad Kobe sells out stadiums everywhere he goes, because even the away fans of his most hated rivals still want to see the legend one in action last time.
Victory Lap Kobe has a certain appreciation of everything that’s going on around him because he knows everything he does could end up being the last time he does it, and he might not even know it at the time.
Ronaldinho is not retired. Not yet. We're happy about this, because someone who loves the game as much as he does should be able to play forever. We know that this will not be the case, but we want him to go on as long as possible.
Brazilian legend Ronaldinho, club-less since leaving Fluminense in September, has found a new club, Racing de Montevideo in Uruguay. Or has he?
¡Bienvenido Ronaldinho! El jugador formará parte del cervecero durante el próximo torneo Clausura. pic.twitter.com/zwqNrbLPdX
— Racing Club de Mdeo (@RacingClubUru) December 28, 2015
In a recent interview with Marca, Brazilian icon Ronaldinho reflected on Neymar's role with the Brazil National Team and concluded, "Without doubt, Neymar is already my heir."
"He is performing in that role and he has been for many years," Ronaldinho said. "He is a great player and he will be the face of Brazil for plenty of seasons to come."
Ronaldinho, one of the most enjoyable footballers in recent times, has been without a club ever since he and Fluminense mutually agreed to terminate his contract a few months ago.
But he and Fluminense are teaming up for one last ride, traveling to the United States for a friendly tournament in Florida called, appropriately, the Florida Cup.
"We are going to Orlando for the Florida Cup, and as a matter of marketing and brand expansion, Ronaldinho will play for us," Fluminense president Peter Siemsen said on Radio Tupi.
It's the season of giving, and what better way to highlight the season of giving than to shine a light on a gift given by one of the best to ever do it to another of the best to ever do it. A regular gift from a regular person is nice, but a Messi gift from Lionel Messi is twice as nice.
And when you are Ronaldinho, and Messi is a close personal friend of yours, a Messi gift is thrice as nice.
Here's what happened: Messi gave his buddy Ronaldinho a signed Lionel Messi Barcelona jersey, and Ronaldinho thanked his buddy Messi for the gift on Instagram and Twitter.
It's a question posed to any footballer who succeeds in the relative atmospheric comforts of Serie A, La Liga and Ligue 1: "but could he do it on a cold Wednesday night at Stoke?" The implication being that in the cold of England in winter, players from lesser footballing areas like the Mediterranean and South America would wilt like the dead flowers they are. It is a perfect example of (false) Premier League exceptionalism.