



“Was it a difficult decision to retire?”

It is a question one might expect to elicit a wistful sigh or a pregnant pause, especially when put to a player who only recently called time on one of the most storied careers in modern football. They say every athlete dies twice, and a certain measure of internalised grief is usually par for the course once the first post-mortem begins.

Ronaldinho, though, has always had a knack for bucking expectations. “No, it wasn’t hard at all,” he replies, trademark grin spreading swiftly across his face. “It was something I thought a lot about, and I decided to stop, feeling fulfilled and happy.”

In truth, he has had ample time to come to terms with it. The official announcement may only have been made in January, but the 38-year-old had been retiring in instalments for a good while, his last official appearance having come fully 31 months ago, at the end of an ill-fated spell with Fluminense.

View photos ​Ronaldinho on UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour presented by Heineken® More

He has kept himself busy in the interim, such that the professional game appears not to have left too big a hole in his life. “I don’t miss it because I play every day,” he laughs. (Laughter is very much Ronaldinho’s mother tongue.) “I have footvolley, which is something that I love, and music…” Politics, too: he will controversially join the Brazilian Republican Party a few days after we speak.

That restlessness was evident in the second half of his playing career, which took him from Italy back to Brazil, then to Mexico, where Yahoo Sport meets him on the UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour presented by Heineken®. But while he remained a box-office draw well into his 30s and added a Copa Libertadores medal to his collection during an enjoyable Indian summer with Atlético Mineiro, there is an argument to be made that this was all but a post-script to the Barcelona years, that five-year spell when Porto Alegre’s premier stepover-deity took our hearts hostage.

READ MORE: What if… Guardiola had inherited Mourinho’s Man United squad?

READ MORE: Fernando Morientes on Liverpool and the agony of missing Istanbul

View photos Ronaldinho spent five successful years at Barcelona More

And if Ronaldinho left an indelible mark on Barça, the reverse is also true. “I still watch them,” he says. “I have a lot friends there – not just players, but people behind the scenes too. I have history there, a really strong bond.” He has fond memories of winning the Champions League in 2006 – “the pinnacle of club football” – and will be cheering on Ernesto Valverde’s charges in the latter stages of this season’s edition: “I think the team is doing really well. They’re having a marvellous season and everything is in place for them to win it.”

If they do, there may be mixed emotions for another Brazilian who is looking to follow in his gilded footsteps at the Camp Nou. Philippe Coutinho is sitting out the Champions League knockout stages, having played in the competition for Liverpool prior to his big-money move to Barça in January, but Ronaldinho believes there will plenty of good times ahead for him in Catalonia.

View photos Philippe Coutinho is the latest Brazilian to move to the Camp Nou More

Story continues