20 years have passed since Ronaldo suffered a terrible knee injury. The career of “Alien” also changed.

What would happen if we saw Ronaldo completely healed in the early 20th century? What trajectory can the history of Inter Milan and world football follow?

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Explosive dribbles at high speed harm Ronaldo’s knees. Photo: Getty.

With the word if, one could fit all of Paris into the neck of the bottle. No one knows exactly what would have happened if Ronaldo Luis Nazario de Lima had not suffered a terrible knee injury in the past. What one can do is remember it with regret.

6 fateful minutes
In November 1999, Ronaldo suffered the first serious knee injury of his career. It took the Inter Milan player 5 months to return to the field. On April 12, 2000, in the Coppa Italy final, Lazio was leading Inter Milan 2-1 and legendary coach Marcelo Lippi had to use his secret weapon.

Ronaldo returned to the field after a long absence due to injury. 6 minutes after entering the field, Ronaldo had the ball and performed a familiar leg movement while running at high speed. He collapsed in front of the opponent’s penalty area.

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The ball that led to Ronaldo’s freak injury

The entire Olimpico stadium was quiet. They witnessed one of the most famous and regrettable injuries in football history.

Those who do not imagine the severity of that injury can ask Diego Simeone, who is now a football coach famous for his dark football arts.

The Lazio star at that time was one of the players who was extremely frightened when witnessing Ronaldo’s injury. Simeone can be a bad player and is willing to do everything to win. However, even he feels sorry for football geniuses like Ronaldo.

Teammate Panucci held his head in shock. When the ambulance carried Ronaldo out, applause echoed from all sides of the Olimpico stadium. The audience was not able to see the return of “Aliens”.

Ronaldo can only return to the field after 17 months. And although he continues his brilliant form, Ronaldo’s explosive moves when he first entered the world are no longer there.

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The moment Ronaldo was about to collapse due to injury. Photo: AP.

Horrible injury
Nilton Petrone, Ronaldo’s physio, recalled the Brazilian striker’s injury at that time as the “worst injury” he had ever seen. “When he went into the hospital, his knee tendon was completely torn,” Petrone revealed on Four Four Two. “His knee felt like it exploded and there was nothing left.”

“If I showed you pictures of that injury, you probably wouldn’t believe your eyes,” this doctor recalled. After surgery, Ronaldo’s knee swelled to the size of a soccer ball. Doctors had to use 3 or 4 tubes to suck blood and fluid out of the knee.

Many people could not contain their emotions when they saw Ronaldo crying and begging to be injected with morphine to reduce the pain.

“One day in the middle of the night, Ronaldo called me and said: Please tell me that I can play football again, please don’t lie,” Petrone continued. “I was there, the one who started the recovery process when the whole world said he wouldn’t come back. The medical community said it was impossible, the doctors had doubts.”

Ronaldo himself later recalled that because his love for football was so great, he never thought he would retire at that time. Football has never disappointed Ronaldo. And it’s true that he’s back, but he can never return to the way he was before.

Four Four Two once called Ronaldo a 6-legged man who can run 100 m in 10.3 seconds while continuously rotating his legs and shaking his hips when he has the ball.

Before his injury, Ronaldo was more than an ordinary magician from Samba, he was a phenomenon and entity that world football had never seen.

Doctor Petrone confirmed that Ronaldo’s explosive moves pushed his knee to the limit. Ronaldo not only runs or accelerates normally like everyone else, he also rotates his legs, shakes his hips and changes direction suddenly.

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Ronaldo’s knee was almost deformed after an injury in 2000. Photo: Getty.

Phoenix reborn
Petrone compared Ronaldo’s return after that terrible injury to a phoenix reborn from the ashes.

“He started practicing 9-10 hours a day, continuously without stopping to get back,” Petrone said. “Not only did he have to fight himself, but he also had to fight the skepticism of a public who predicted his career was over.”

As soon as he returned to the field for the first time in August 2001, Ronaldo scored. However, to be careful, the doctors did not allow him to continue playing. 15 days later, Ronaldo returned again and also continued to score.

The 2002 World Cup marked Ronaldo’s return to the top. Rivaldo, Ronaldinho and their teammates in the Brazilian team helped “Aliens” reach the top of the world. After that, Ronaldo moved to Real Madrid to join “Dai Thien