Marco VanBasten was arguably
the best striker of his generation, and today Ronaldo is
considered one of the best if not the best. Both of these
players were goal machines and caused a threat to the goal
every single time they touched the ball. Both of them also
faced injuries that jeopardized their careers over and over
again. VanBasten had a fragile ankle and Ronaldo had a
delicate knee. Injuries did hurt the careers of both players
but they weren’t enough to stop their passion for the game.
Both players piled up awards and championships. They raised
the bars and brought soccer to another dimension. VanBasten
and Ronaldo are two names that soccer will never forget.
Marco VanBasten was
brought and raised in Holland where he joined his first
team. He joined a struggling Ajax and very quickly things
turned around. He won three league championships, three
cups, and one European Cup with Ajax. He also won a Golden
Boot award. Then he joined ACMilan along with Rijkard and
Gullit. The three players raised ACMilan to become the best
team in Europe and arguably in the history of the game.
During VanBastens time at Milan their team won a European
cup and three European Championships. Milan also won the
Italian Championship four times during that time. Marco’s
great career was then brought to a tragic end when he was
injured and never again recovered. The most frustrating
thing for me," he said, "is not the way I hurt my ankle, but
the way I have been treated by some doctors. The person who
damaged my ankle most was not a player but a surgeon."
Ronaldo on the
other hand was brought and raised in his home land Brazil.
He started his career playing for Cruzeiro. He only played
one season until his talent was recognized by PSV. PSV paid
a record four million pounds for a young unknown striker but
Ronaldo proved that he was worth every pound spent on him.
He scored forty two goals in forty six games in two seasons
for the Dutch team. Barcelona then paid ten million pounds
for the services of the rising star Ronaldo. Once again he
showed everyone the threat that he made to opposing goals.
He scored thirty four goals in thirty seven games. At the
end of the season Inter were determined to add Ronaldo to
their squad and bought out his contract which totaled
nineteen million pounds. Ronaldo played five total seasons
with Inter. Two full seasons and three filled with pain and
struggles. Even with the injuries he was able to find the
goal forty nine times in sixty eight appearances. Then he
joined Real Madrid where he gave four fabulous seasons the
once again tragedy struck. The end of the 2005-2006 campaign
he was injured and the next season Ronaldo wasn’t good
enough according to his coach. Even though he scored eighty
two goals in one hundred and twenty games. Today Ronaldo is
looking forward to a great career at ACMilan. Throughout his
career he has scored great goals but according to Ronaldo
“the best is yet to come".
