Ronaldo "Fenomeno": The Nine Most Remarkable Goals of His Career

Last week Ronaldo, one of the greatest players of all time, celebrated his 34th birthday from the stands, still nursing an ever more nagging calf injury. His second season back in Brazil playing for Corinthians has not been as outstanding as his first, it is very hard to match two titles in the first six months of the year, but he is on his way back.

He is one of, if not the very best, top players we have seen in the last 25 years both in Brazil and worldwide. He has played for the world's biggest clubs, racking up a ridiculous amount of honours in the process. Don't forget he also has two FIFA World Cup Winners medals in his trophy case people.

Through his travels as a player for Cruzeiro, PSV, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, A.C. Milan and now Corinthians he has done some amazing things that easily justify his place in the top 10 players of all time.

In tribute of Ronaldo "R9" here are the nine best goals he has scored....

It was March 8 of 2009 and Corinthians was playing versus its biggest rivals Palmeiras during the 2009 Campeonato Paulista (São Paulo State Championship).

This was the first game Ronaldo started for Corinthians after rehabbing a third torn knee ligament and hopes were high for Corinthians and its "Fiel" fan base.

It was the 92nd minute of the game and most importantly it was the last chance for Corinthians in the game after having gone down 1-0 earlier. An in swinging corner made its way across the box towards the back post where Ronaldo managed to find himself.

A precise header placed the ball in the net, Ronaldo scored his first goal for Corinthians and his first goal in almost two years. Perhaps a simple looking goal but it surely is one of the very most meaningful he ever had.

Thanks to this goal, Corinthians went on to be crowned the 2009 Paulista Champions for a record 26th time, not to mention they accomplished this undefeated, a feat that had not been done in 30 years.

Number 8 is a double dip into what is probably the most important ten minutes of Ronaldo's professional career.

Making up for the failure of 1998, Ronaldo was able to put past Oliver Kahn two shots leading Brazil to its record fifth World Cup title.

Note where the stat shows Ronaldo scored eight goals in seven games that cup yet somehow FIFA voted Oliver Kahn the best player of the tournament.

Here Ronaldo shows us one of the runs that made him such a great player. After constant hassling by the Lecce defense Ronaldo fell back to take the ball from near midfield, ran through two opponents played a one-two with a teammate and let loose a left footed strike across the box with no chance for the keeper.

*Note* the play for the goal starts at about 1:10 of the video.

Ronaldo had a great season at Barcelona in 96-97, scoring 34 goals in just 37 league matches leading La Liga in goals that year.

He also helped Barcelona win the Copa de Rei and the Recopa Europe and fell just shy of the league title at years end.

This goal versus Valencia is one of the very best Ronaldo had while defending the Camp Nou side.

This is very embarrassing for the Chilean defender. Ronaldo completely jukes him out of his shoes prior to curling a finesse shot past the keeper who made no effort to save it.

During these late 90's years Ronaldo was absolutely in his prime.

This was the first leg of the 2009 Campeonato Paulista Final versus rival Santos away, which after two Ronaldo goals Corinthians won 3-1.

This just shows how smart he is on the field, clearly on a different level. It should also be noted that both Neymar and Ganso were on the field for Santos during this match.

For his fifth goal with the Brazilian national side, a very young Ronaldo made the defending players look foolish.

Ronaldo dribbles around several defenders, does a full spin past three of them, made one turn by himself before unleashing a nasty left footed strike in the upper 90 leaving the keeper no chance.

Notice how old this is, Ronaldo came on the field with the number 18 shirt.

Many people don't know that before reaching Barcelona, Ronaldo made a quick stop over in Holland to defend PSV.

Over 40 goals in under 50 matches will always earn you a spot on any top flight European side.

This type of kick is called a "gol de letra" in Portuguese.

Hands down his greatest goal ever.

Just sit back and enjoy, you will quickly see why he is worthy of the top ten all time.

Only one.