The Day I Played with Ronaldo

Before the end of the first half, Ricardo launched an attack from the left side, dribbling through two players of the national team, and knocking the ball across to teenager Elton. Elton took the ball and pushed it lightly. Fabiano understood it, ran diagonally, successfully received the ball and completed the shot, winning back a goal for Sao Paulo.

After the start of the second half, Sao Paulo's morale was even stronger, but the national team gave them a blow: Peralta broke through from the wing and made a low pass. Midfielder Morales followed up and pushed the ball successfully, expanding the score to 3: 1.

At this time, Rojas made a decisive substitution, substituting both Ricardinho and Fabiano who lacked physical strength, leaving only Ricardo as the main force in the frontcourt.

This substitution brought a miraculous effect, and the young players who played performed well.

First, Riccardo assisted Tardelli to score, and soon Rico made a cross from the side, and Riccardo succeeded with a header, rewriting the score to 3:3.

In the last 10 minutes of the game, both sides were nearly exhausted, but they each played a few minutes of good shots. Peralta scored a long shot to give the Nationals the lead again. In the 86th minute, Ricardo dribbled past the Nationals like an acrobatic. 3 people, a wonderful pass to the goal, helping Elton score.

In the end, the two sides fought to a 4:4 tie, which is a rare high score. It is conceivable how poor the state of the backcourt players in Sao Paulo's game is.

After respite for 2 days, Sao Paulo sat at home and ushered in the second opponent Guarani in the league. Facing the underdog Guarani, Sao Paulo showed signs of exhaustion, the defense was full of loopholes, and the offense was weak. In the end, the two sides fought to a 1:1 tie, and Sao Paulo barely tied the opponent with a penalty kick scored by captain Cheney.

After this game, Ricardo, his teammate Fabiano, Ricardinho and Cheney came to the Komari Manor training ground in Teresopolis, a satellite city of Rio de Janeiro, again. Brazil National Team Convergence.

In this period, the national team basically did not recruit players who played in the five major leagues. Most of the 22 players came from Brazil's domestic league, so Ricardo's Sao Paulo teammate Fabiano and others can be selected. It is a pity that Kaka was injured and could not wear the national team's jersey this time.

It is worth mentioning that Santos' Diego and Renato were also selected for this period's national team, but Robinho's first national team trip has to wait for the future.

On April 30, when the Brazilian team faced the Mexican team in Maracana, Ricardo started and assisted Fabiano to score with a pass in the 38th minute.

In the second half, the Brazilian team made a big rotation, and Ricardo was also replaced, thus ending his second trip to the national team.

After the game, before returning to Sao Paulo, Pereira found Ricciardo alone.

"During this period, take care of your body and don't get injured. Also keep in shape, I hope to see you keep scoring goals."

Ricardo smiled knowingly: "Sir, do I have a chance to go to the Confederations Cup?"

Pereira nodded slightly: "There is a chance."

Ricardo's confidence suddenly increased.

This year's Confederations Cup will be held in France in June. Brazil has never cared much about the Confederations Cup in Brazil. Except for the 1997 Confederations Cup, when the main players were recruited in order to prepare for the World Cup, they usually sent a team composed of marginal players to compete in the Confederations Cup.

Licardo felt that it was necessary for him to compete for the position of the main force in this competition. Ronaldo is definitely not coming. And Ricardo is unwilling to substitute for anyone other than Ronaldo.

And if you want to play the main force... In addition to the performance during the training camp, your performance in the Copa Libertadores and the league is also crucial.

But the next league game did not have any chance for him to perform. Not only him, but Fabiano and Ricardinho also sat on the bench. Rojas had to save his strength for the second round of the Copa Libertadores quarter-finals. As a result, most of the main players were replaced by Sao Paulo. Lost to Coritiba 0:2 away.

The league has 1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss with only 4 points. Such an unsatisfactory start has caused the Sao Paulo sports media to criticize Rojas. However, the media didn't say too much. They were holding back, and when Sao Paulo was eliminated in the Copa Libertadores, it was time for them to settle the score.

But Rojas didn't let them get what they wanted, Sao Paulo didn't let them get what they wanted, and Ricardo didn't let them get what they wanted.

On May 7th, Sao Paulo, who was in Morumbi, launched a fierce attack from the first minute of the game. They did not accept a loss or a draw, but only a victory!

In the first half, Riccardo made a pass and Rico made a contribution to help Sao Paulo lead 2:1.

The situation changed suddenly in the second half, and the national team pulled a goal back from Valdez, and the score became a 2:2 tie.

If this score is maintained until the end, the total score of the two sides will be 6:6, and a penalty kick will be decided directly. There is no extra time in the Copa Libertadores, and there is no rule of advancing on away goals. Both sides in the tie must shoot penalty kicks.

Just when Rojas was at a loss, Ricardo stepped forward again. It was already injury time. Ricardinho took a free kick in the frontcourt. The Nationals defender raised his leg to clear the siege, but made a mistake in his busy schedule and kicked back on his own team.

Ricardo reacted quickly. With his back to the goal, he leaned hard on the Nationals defender, flicked the ball lightly, and then jumped up to shoot with a barb, and the football hit the net.

With this goal, Sao Paulo eliminated the strong opponent of the national team with a total score of 7:6 and entered the top 8.

This time, a total of 4 Brazilian clubs participated in the top 32 group stage of the Copa Libertadores. In addition to Sao Paulo, there are Corinthians, San Caetano and Gremio.

These 4 teams all successfully qualified for the group stage, but Corinthians lost to River Plate in the quarter-finals, and San Caetano regrettably lost to Boca with a total score of 3:4, leaving only Sao Paulo and Gremio are in the quarter-finals, representing the last face of Brazilian football in this top South American club competition.

In addition to the two Brazilian teams in the top 8, there are also two Argentine teams River Plate and Boca, two Colombian teams Cali America and Medellin Independence, as well as a Mexican team and a Chilean team.

Sao Paulo's next opponent will be the club Blue Cross from Mexico.

The first leg match between the two sides will be played on May 21. Before that, Sao Paulo still has a few league games to play.

On the day when Sao Paulo successfully entered the top 8 of the Copa Libertadores, the semi-finals of the European Champions Cup, the highest competition for European clubs, also started.

The Milan duo played against each other in the first round. Although the two rounds were played in San Siro, the first round was AC Milan's home court.

AC Milan's strong defense is undoubtedly evident. The defense line composed of Nesta, Maldini, Costacurta and Gattuso made Ronaldo return without success, and the battle between the two sides became 0:0.

In the next round of the match, Inter Milan only needs to win a goal to enter the Champions League final again after 30 years.