Perfil do Ronaldinho Gaucho no Guardian

Tava querendo ver se a estupenda vitória do Brasil de ontem tinha tido destaque na imprensa britânica. Nenhum grande comentário, mas achei este longo perfil do Ronaldinho Gaúcho no Guardian.

É bacana ver que o melhor jogador do mundo e a família dele, ao contrário dos Romários e Maradonas da vida, podem servir de exemplo positivo para o país da Lei de Gerson.

'My family is everything,' Ronaldinho says. 'I am what I am thanks to my mother, my father, my brother, my sister ... because they have given me everything. The education I have is thanks to them.'

His mother, Miguelina, sold cosmetics door-to-door and then, in middle age, studied to become a nurse. She still lives in Porto Alegre, but in an even larger family residence. She frequently visits her son in Barcelona, where he lives in a spacious house by the beach to the south of the city. There he is free to listen to his music and surround himself with his closest friends. Deisi, his university-educated sister, looks after his busy schedule, negotiating with sponsors and the press. The long process of fixing an audience with her brother starts with the club's public relations department, but ends with one of her polite and formal text messages. Everything is designed to allow Ronaldinho to play, in the purest sense, although, paradoxically, this is also his great responsibility. 'My only concern is playing,' he told me. 'Everything else my family looks after. In our house every one has a job, and my job in our house is to play football.'

Outra coisa impressionante é a comparação que o Ronaldinho fez do trabalho dele no campo de futebol com o do Salvador Dali.

Last month, Ronaldinho visited the Salvador Dalí museum in Figueres, north of Barcelona and close to the border with France. In fact, he visited it twice: first alone and then with his mother. 'There was one picture there that impressed me very much [Gala Contemplating the Sea, in which the artist's wife, naked and looking out to sea, at 18 metres distance becomes an image of President Lincoln]. If you look at it normally you don't see anything. But if you do this - he pulls his eyes back to blur his vision - 'you can see into it. To make something like that, such a fascinating picture, you have to have imagination, you have to be able to think before others. I thought to myself, yes, that is what I have to do. My imagination comes from being with a ball and wanting to do something new, like Dalí as if for the first time. This is my motivation.'

He pauses, then continues, speaking more softly. 'To have something new with which to outwit my adversary, to achieve victories, that is my objective every day.' We have been talking for at least an hour but he seems in no hurry to leave.

Vale ler inteiro. A única coisa que me deixa meio chateado é a diferença de qualidade da imprensa brasileira com a britânica...

Infelizmente a melhora do nosso jornalismo não depende apenas de talentos individuais e de uma família decente bem estruturada.

Como muita gente está deixando comentários sobre o Ronaldinho Gaúcho neste site, resolvi criar um espaço para que todos possam escrever algo sobre os outros jogadores da seleção brasileira que devem ir trazer o hexa na Alemanha

Por favor visite: Opiniões sobre a Seleção Brasileira de Futebol

Vou fechar os comentários desta página para concentrar a voz do povo lá.