00:03Sometimes we need reminding.
00:06So look at this.
00:08He's in his prime.
00:10Such pace.
00:12Such mobility.
00:14Such charisma.
00:16The power of Ronaldo was something to behold.
00:20That was just one goal at Barcelona,
00:23in one glorious season in the mid-1990s,
00:27ahead of the first of his three World Player of the Year awards
00:31and his dramatic, theatric, incredible performances
00:35at three World Cups.
00:38On football's greatest stage,
00:41Ronaldo was at his finest.
00:43And that's after all the true measure of a career,
00:46producing for your nation when it counts most.
00:51Had the injuries which slowed him down in the second half of his career
00:54not been so debilitating,
00:57he might just have been the greatest of all time.
01:02O Phenomeno.
01:03The Phenomenon.
01:09Ronaldo is Brazil's third top scorer.
01:13His 62 in 98 caps, behind only Pele and Neymar.
01:20But at the World Cup, Ronaldo scored 15 in three tournaments,
01:24to Pele's 12 in four and Neymar's eight in three.
01:30But those statistics tell barely a fraction of the story.
01:37Ronaldo was named in Brazil's squad at the age of 17
01:40for the 1994 World Cup.
01:43But only for the experience.
01:45He didn't play a game, but by the time of the 1998 World Cup,
01:49he was at Inter Milan and the best player in the world.
01:56I am very much motivated,
01:58and I feel more motivated after what I have received.
02:02But I still have many titles left to conquer.
02:06And my dream is, of course, to play in the World Cup in France,
02:10and win the title for Brazil.
02:14When the 22-year-old Ronaldo hit Paris in 1998,
02:18he held the game's two highest individual honours,
02:22the 1997 Ballon d'Or and FIFA Player of the Year.
02:26There was no question he was the biggest name on football's greatest stage.
02:33And when he scored four goals in Brazil's march to the final,
02:36including two in the round of 16 against Chile,
02:40and his team's lone goal in the semi-final against Netherlands,
02:44he'd already done enough to win the tournament's golden ball for best player.
02:50But what happened just after lunch on the day of the final against France
02:55would become one of World Cup history's most controversial and mysterious events.
03:02Ronaldo suffered a convulsive fit.
03:07Ronaldo was foaming at the mouth, struggling, breathing with a lot of difficulty,
03:12and very pale, according to teammate Gonsalves.
03:17The young champion's roommate, Roberto Carlos, screamed for help,
03:21and the man credited with saving his life was defender Sampaio.
03:27Edmundo held down the star player,
03:29while Sampaio, seen here heading balls with the champion,
03:32prevented him from swallowing his tongue.
03:38The world was stunned when he was left off the team sheet
03:41before being reinstated at the last minute.
03:44Many believe, under sponsors' instructions,
03:50he shouldn't have played.
03:52A drawn, reserved, shadow of himself,
03:56the French ran all over him and his team, winning 3-0.
04:02I wanted to play at all costs,
04:04and asked if he couldn't just do the tests before the game.
04:07So I went to the clinic just before the match.
04:10I don't think that the outcome of the match had anything to do with what happened.
04:15I went onto the pitch wanting to win and play well,
04:18but unfortunately it didn't happen.
04:24Fast forward to 2002, and at just 25, they said he was washed up.
04:30He'd barely played since rupturing a tendon in his knee with Inter in 1999.
04:36Setback after setback meant he missed Brazil's entire qualifying campaign.
04:43But he didn't miss the World Cup.
04:46He scored eight goals, including two in the final, matching Pele's total 12,
04:52and taking him to his third World Player of the Year trophy and his second Ballon d'Or.
05:00By 2006, he really was past his best.
05:04On wobbly knees, and unable to put enough miles in his legs
05:08to physically get down to appropriate fitness,
05:11he could produce only cameo football.
05:16Enough to score three more times to break German Gerd Müller's World Cup record,
05:21but not enough to take his Brazil team past the quarterfinals.
05:27Even then, he tried to keep playing the game he loved,
05:30even though he knew, like everyone else, the glory days were gone.
05:37And the Brazilian fans, and all lovers of football, still cheered wherever he went.
05:43The media fun poked at his fitness,
05:45or fatness could never ruin the affection the Brazil people had for their champion.
05:53Pele will always be Brazil's greatest World Cup hero.
05:57But there's a fair question to be asked about Ronaldo and his knees.
06:03What if?
06:05Hannı batma used his death door,
06:09I was so glad, like the worldle I ever scope can.
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