At his peak, Ronaldinho was one of the finest to ever play the game.

His skill was mesmerising, it created a copy-cat culture in playgrounds and on pitches across the globe. His iconic 'elastico' move lives on years after his best days.

The Brazilian won it all and rarely took a misstep. But off the pitch, and since being deemed surplus to requirements at Barcelona, it has been a far more damning and dramatic tale, one of near bankruptcy, fake passports and, eventually, prison.

Ronaldinho has had one of the biggest falls from grace since the peak of his playing career

Idolised at Barcelona, since leaving in 2008, scandal and mystery has followed him ever since

He still has the same goofy smile that became synonymous with him in his pomp.

But since walking away from Lionel Messi and Co in Barcelona, scandal and criminality has clung to his back like a shadow.

Here, Sportsmail takes a look back at the ups and downs of the 40-year-old's rollercoaster existence after leaving the Nou Camp...

Training 'drunk' was the final straw

The rise of Messi had suddenly exposed how Barcelona no longer needed to rely on Ronaldinho to achieve success.

But it was not just the tricky Argentine's ascent that signalled the end as former Barcelona midfielder Alexander Hleb shed light on what was the final straw for the club when it came to Ronaldinho in 2008.

'Ronaldinho and Deco came to training drunk,' Hleb told V OKA TV, via Goal.

'That's why Ronaldinho and Deco were sold in 2008. Because they [the club] were afraid that they would bring down Lionel Messi.'

Ronaldinho (right) and Deco (left) reportedly turned up to training 'drunk' at Barcelona in 2008

Ronaldinho's physical stature has always been seen as particularly precarious and having landed on what many see as the best player in the history of the game in Messi, it was time for the club to move on from him.

Both Ronaldinho and Deco were superstars at that time - but it proved nobody was untouchable.

Both had won LaLiga twice and were key in winning the 2005-06 UEFA Champions League with the club.

The arrival of Pep Guardiola in 2007-08 saw the pair cast aside and while Ronaldinho would continue to keep playing elsewhere. With hindsight, this was to prove the beginning of a ride down a dark and twisted slope.

Lifeline with AC Milan

A £25million move to then Italian giants AC Milan proved welcome for all parties after relations soured in Catalonia. It was reported that he had rejected a switch to Manchester City - and so interest remained high.

There was 40,000 who turned out crazed with excitement that the 2005 Ballon d'Or winner was arriving to wear red and black in Milan for his unveiling.

But his two seasons in Italy were mixed. Yes, he won the 2010-11 Serie A title (despite leaving mid-season) but his magic of yesteryear was no longer as sharp and dazzling as it had been. The shiny new toy quickly looked worn and not 'as good as new' as many had perhaps, naively, hoped.

Ronaldinho would earn a Serie A winners' medal in 2010-2011 despite leaving mid-season

He mustered 26 goals in 95 matches and became used to spells on the bench, something that was frankly unthinkable at his peak in Barcelona.

But his physical conditioning appeared to be unimportant to him. He had the skill, unquestionably, but his time as one of the elite players in Europe was all-but over and Milan only confirmed that.

'The decline of Ronaldinho hasn't surprised me,' Carlo Ancelotti, his manager at the San Siro, once said.

'His physical condition has always been very precarious. His talent though has never been in question.'

The 2002 World Cup winner was cast aside, again. One of the game's greats was fading into insignificance on the pitch for all to see.

Rejecting Blackburn... and going home

Imagine this one. Ronaldinho emerging from the Ewood Park tunnel to the sound of boisterous Lancastrians? Quite an image.

Venky's chief Anuradha Desai revealed in 2011 that the deal being offered to the then 30-year-old would net him £6.5m for the first 12 months and £7.3m for each of the following two years.

She also said Blackburn had been looking at signing David Beckham for some time. The Blackburn Rovers dream team that could have been.

In the end, Ronaldinho closed the book on his time in Europe and returned to Brazil for what would be a madcap couple of years going club-to-club like someone crashing on the sofa at friends' houses.

He had the chance to join Blackburn Rovers, but decided his time playing in Europe was over

He was overlooked by Brazil for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa but was not deterred, signing for Flamengo before that situation, ultimately, went awry.

Soon after scoring a hat-trick in a 5-4 win away to rivals Santos, a raft of arguments over his professionalism and the club's conduct on wages came to a head.

Four months of unpaid wages, according to SambaFoot, saw Ronaldinho successfully take the club to court, and his contract was ripped up with immediate effect.

And so on he went. First to Atletico Mineiro, where he won three titles in two years, then to Mexico on a free transfer with Queretaro before coming back to Brazil with Fluminense in 2015.

He lasted two months - and nine games - before it was concluded that at 35, his best days were long gone and his contract was to be terminated.

That was that. His impact and quality had waned, his physicality was being more and more exposed and so it was to be futsal, and then teqball, that were to keep him occupied in his post-playing career.

Property farce

While his career on the pitch was becoming pitiful and a sad demise to see unfold, now there starts to be skirmishes with the law in his story. Well, more than a skirmish.

For building on a preserved area without permission back in 2015, Ronaldinho had his passport confiscated by Brazilian authorities and was slapped with a fine of around £1.5m.

The twice World Player Of The Year was fined for illegally building a pier at his lake house in the city of Porto Alegre.

Things got even worse this summer on the property front. The initial fine from 2015 had a further one million reais (£200,000) slapped on it.

Courts in the south of Brazil forbid the midfielder from selling 57 houses and apartments from his portfolio to make amends. Simultaneously, creditors launched their own separate action to recuperate an additional £2m in other debts.

Suddenly, the magnifying glass was all over a man who, in his pomp, was seen as untouchable, unable to put a foot wrong.

His brother Roberto (left) looked after Ronaldinho's business ventures as the pair soon found themselves hit with heavy fines for illegally building a pier at his lake house in Porto Alegre

Ronaldinho (pictured in Dubai) was once reportedly set to marry two women at the same time

But a thorough search of his bank accounts soon revealed a balance of just over £5. It was all unravelling - fast.

Speculation grew from there that the former star sponsored by big names such as Nike and Pepsi for the duration of his glittering career had spent up.

His lawyer consistently denied that his client's assets were under any restriction whenever broached for comment on the matter by international and domestic press.

Given it was his brother Roberto handling all of Ronaldinho's business affairs during his playing career, the siblings were fast finding themselves in over their heads as authorities circled.

Bigamy

Where to start with this one?

Ronaldinho, according to reports in Brazil, was 'set to marry two women simultaneously'.

Given the drama and befuddlement of supporters trying to keep track of Ronaldinho's post-playing days, it raised little more than an eyebrow in the grand scheme of things.

Priscilla Coelho and Beatriz Souza, who both lived with the former Barcelona star in Rio, were the two women in question. Civil unions of more than two people are not wholly uncommon in Brazil but this three-way wedding was something that he later claimed was simply not true, despite assertions from local media to the contrary.

Ronaldinho reportedly asked Priscilla Coelho, (left), and Beatriz Souza (right), to marry him in January last year, according to Brazilian media

'It's the biggest lie,' he told SporTV in May 2018.

In the end, it all unravelled and this time he was the one heading to court.

Coelho, one of the two women, who gave up her studies and profession to reside with him, left Ronaldinho citing aggression and opened a legal case to take one third of his earnings from 2012 to 2018 after the pair failed to reach a separation agreement in private.

The fact marrying two women at the same time would not have been the craziest part of this story captures just how baffling Ronaldinho's life has been post-Barcelona.

Barcelona 'cut ties'

As scandal escalates, clubs and brands like to try and protect their image and this was to be no different.

Barcelona's unease with the samba star came to light in 2018 when he made a public show of support for controversial president Jair Bolsonaro back in Brazil.

Rivaldo, also previously of Barcelona, did similar and the club, already very political, looked to put distance between themselves and the former players.

The club have since taken a silent approach with the ex-player in a maximum security prison in Paraguay and according to SPORT, via Forbes, the club have 'washed their hands' of him.

Alongside brother Roberto, he paid a visit to the club back in November but it could be some time before he is welcomed with such open arms again following his latest forgettable episode.

Roberto (left) and Ronaldinho (right) paid a visit to Barcelona in November but ties are strained

Ronaldinho: The 'Stupid' Prisoner

And the story, which is still being written, ends up here, with Ronaldinho in handcuffs, with his brother in tow, at a maximum security prison in Paraguay.

Both he and his brother Roberto were charged with attempting to enter the country with fake passports last month, and had been faced with six months' jail time.

His run-ins with the law came to a head on March 6 when he was arrested along with Roberto.

But he swiftly denied using a forged passport, with the former World Cup winner insisting he didn't know he had committed an offence.

His own lawyer Adolfo Marin said the former player had been 'stupid' and criticised the courts for not taking into account his mistake.

Ronaldinho with his brother behind was escorted into prison with handcuffs under a blanket

'The courts have not taken into account the fact that Ronaldinho didn't know he was committing a crime, because he didn't understand he had been given false documents. He is stupid.'

Even by Ronaldinho's banal standards in retirement, this news had left people back in Brazil stunned. The prison team suddenly got a whole lot stronger.

It had been argued that he should be spared from facing prison due to his high-profile status as a former footballer, with his legal team saying his detention was 'arbitrary, abusive and illegal'.

Thirty-two days after arriving, his hands disguised by a pink blanket, he was moved to house arrest at the Palmaroga hotel in the country's capital of Asuncion while investigations into the documentation continues.

As for whether his old pal Messi had bailed him out, the Argentine called out what he says is a 'lie' on his Instagram page on Thursday night.

What the future holds for Ronaldinho remains anybody's guess. For when he bared his teeth, showed off that cheesy smile with the 2005 Ballon d'Or in hand, few could have imagined even half of the things that have followed him since.