The Day I Played with Ronaldo

At the end of August, Ricardo renewed his contract with Sao Paulo, and many European clubs returned disappointed.

In the new 4-year contract, Ricardo's weekly salary rose to 20,000 reals, surpassing captain Cheney and Luis Fabiano to become the highest salary in the team. Of course, there is still a big gap between this salary and Kaka's salary in AC Milan, but there is no way, the Brazilian economy is not doing well in this era.

His appearance fee has risen to 8,000 reals, the goal bonus is 3,500 reals, the assist bonus is 1,500 reals, and the signing fee is 800,000 reals. A prize of R$ 1 million will be awarded. It's almost like sending him money because now he is leading the top scorer in Brazil.

Naturally, the breach of contract has also increased. Juventio once wanted to adjust his breach of contract to 30 million U.S. dollars, but under Ronaldo's mediation, and Ricardo threatened "If this is the case, I will not accept the contract extension and accept it immediately. Real Madrid's contract", and finally only set his release clause at 20 million US dollars, which is only effective for foreign clubs.

The breach of contract fee was only increased by 5 million US dollars, which may not seem like much, but it represented that Ricardo's worth had been raised to a whole new level. Diwayo's switch to Juventus, and Crespo's switch from Parma to Chelsea only cost more than 20 million US dollars.

In the current transfer market, those who can earn almost 20 million US dollars are already regarded as world-class stars by default.

Of course, if it is a young player, there is still a premium. For example, Adriano has just broken through to the intercontinental level after the Confederations Cup, but his worth has soared to more than 30 million US dollars, equivalent to more than 20 million euros. However, one of the important reasons is that his transfer from Inter Milan to Parma was an internal transfer in Serie A and did not occupy the non-European quota.

If Licardo had an EU passport, his worth would exceed 30 million U.S. dollars in minutes, or even reach 40 million U.S. dollars.

Even if it is difficult to obtain an EU passport now, if he can maintain his current state and scoring efficiency until he is 18 years old, there will definitely be a lot of teams willing to pay him a $20 million break-up clause.

After Ricardo's contract extension was completed, Ronaldo retired and returned to Milan to participate in Inter Milan's pre-season training.

On the other hand, Ricardo devoted himself to the league without distractions, scoring consecutive goals and helping Sao Paulo win a wave of 4 consecutive victories.

In September, the World Cup qualifiers officially began, and Ricardo was selected as he wished.

But he was on the bench against Colombia and at home against Ecuador, earning only a little garbage-time minutes in both games. No way, the current Brazilian team is too star-studded,

Although he already has the strength to compete for the main position, Pereira also has to consider the balance of the locker room.

Ronaldo is naturally the biggest boss in the locker room, but he should not be too eager to support his own brother. During the game, he hinted to Ricardo to take his time, and he will help Ricardo gradually win more playing time.

The Brazilian team won the two games as they wished, which made a good start for the World Cup qualifiers.

Ricardo is actually not dissatisfied with sitting on the bench. He is only 17 years old, so there is no need to be too eager to stand out.

And Pereira has hinted to him that as long as he maintains his form, he will have a place in next year's Copa America, so why is he dissatisfied.

With Sao Paulo eliminated in both the Copa Brasil and the Copa Sudamericana, Sao Paulo went all out to grab points in the league.

However, Kaka's transfer did greatly damage Sao Paulo's strength. The frontcourt lost a hot spot and its offensive power dropped significantly.

Rojas has experimented with several formations, and now he is trying to play a 352. Riccardo and Fabiano will partner up the striker line, with Riccardo playing the role of shadow striker at a slightly back position.

Gustavoneri and Simplicio acted as wing-backs. Both of them are strong offensively and defensively weak, and they are very comfortable in this position.

The three midfielders, Ricardinho, are slightly forward, between the attacking midfielder and the general b2b midfielder. They must organize the attack like a traditional attacking midfielder and provide shells for the striker, and they must bear more burden than the traditional attacking midfielder. Multiple defensive duties. The candidates for the double defensive midfielder are not fixed, and the teenagers Marco Antonio, Alessandro and Ferreira played in turn.

The three backs are Gyan, Lugano and the teenager Julio Santos.

Rico temporarily lost his main position, and only had the opportunity to play as a substitute for Fabiano or Ricardo, or when the team changed.

This lineup has been tested in several games and has played a good role. In particular, the activation of Ricardo has given Ricardo more tactical freedom, allowing Ricardo to devote more energy to attacking, and when he needs to control the ball, Ricardo can retreat a little and stay in line. Cardinho teamed up to contain the midfield.

However, there have been no fierce battles in the past few games. If we really want to review the gains and losses of this formation and tactics, we have to look at the next highlight-Sao Paulo vs. Cruzeiro at home.

In the first round of the match between the two sides, Sao Paulo tied the opponent 1:1 in the away game, and the points gap was not widened.

So far, Cruzeiro still leads the league standings. Sao Paulo is 4 points behind their opponents and temporarily ranked second. Santos is close behind, 5 points behind Sao Paulo with one game less.

Santos was also stunned by Sao Paulo in the first round of the league, which led to a bad start. The first 6 games of the league only won one victory. Although they regained their form later, Robinho, Diego, and Oliveira showed their strength frequently and went straight up against the current, but they failed to catch up with the leaders.

In Santos' home game against Sao Paulo, it only played 0:0, failing to shorten the gap with Sao Paulo.

Therefore, although Santos has not withdrawn from the championship competition, but the hope is not much; Sao Paulo still has hope. If they can beat Cruzeiro at home this time, they will be able to narrow the points gap to 1 point and may catch up at any time.

Of course Cruzeiro will not sit still. It is conceivable that this game must be a battle between dragons and tigers, and both sides will fight without giving up an inch of ground.

At the press conference before the game, Rojas expressed cautious optimism: "The team is relatively complete now, Ricardo and Fabiano are in relatively good form, I think we have every chance to win at home. Contest."

Cruzeiro's coach and meritorious coach Luxenberg said: "São Paulo's offensive power is obvious to all. Ricardo and Fabiano are currently the striker partners with the most goals in the league. To challenge Sao Paulo in an away game, we face A lot of pressure. But Cruzeiro won't hold back, we don't have the word 'confession' in our dictionary. We have the best defense in the league, we're in form and I'm sure the lads can deliver for us A good result."

Players from both sides also expressed their ambitions in interviews. Ricardo said: "We are the South American champions. In the first half of the season, we were too distracted by the intercontinental competition. Then everything will return to the right track. In this game, we will prove the strength of the South American champions."

Cruzeiro's core midfielder, Alex, who has performed well this season, said: "Sao Paulo has a group of very good players. I respect them very much, but I will not be polite in the game."