Daily Recco, June 16: Ronaldo, the man and the legend

Cristiano Ronaldo has done it again. He is now the all-time top goal-scorer in the history of the European Championships. In the game against Hungary last night, the Portuguese football legend did what he does best — score goals and break records. 

As an all-time top scorer in European Championships, Ronaldo stands at 11 goals — two ahead of French great Michel Platini's nine goals. 

Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, it brings to the question what is Ronaldo when he is not on the field scoring goals. And the answer comes in the form of Ronaldo — the British documentary directed by Anthony Wonke released in 2015.

The documentary transverses the life of the legend from his childhood till 2015, through a series of interviews with the man himself, apart from his friends and family.

From his own mother — Maria “Dolores” dos Santos Aveiro — who is obviously in awe of him (like the rest of the world), to his siblings — Hugo, Elma and Cátia Aveiro, who complete the portrait of Ronaldo as the family man. He is shown as a doting father and a caring son. To his fans worldwide, this comes as a really great watch to see their idol as a grounded man who is rooted to his family.

In fact, such is his family’s support that when he dropped out of school, it was his mother who encouraged him to take up football. And it is this same mother who now can barely take the stress of watching him play. “It’s quite complicated to be the mother of a player who needs to win,” she goes on to say. Dolores prefers to walk up the hills rather than take the stress of watching her legendary son when he is playing the World Cup.

However, the star of the film is his young son Cristiano Jr. At the time of filming, Junior was barely five years old, yet the expectations were already sky-high. Ronaldo often says that he always wanted Junior to be “my successor”. As with Cristiano, it is Dolores who is raising the child and intends to raise another legend in her grandson, as she did with her son. The identity of Ronaldo Jr’s mother is probably the best-kept secret in the footballing world. “People speculate that it was with this girl or the other or a surrogate mother,” Ronaldo explains. “I’ve never told anybody and I never will.”

Before the film was released, the filmmakers claimed that it would be a "powerful documentary following a year in the life of the world’s best footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo". All we can say is that they kept the promise and how!

Ronaldo’s agent Jorge Mendes says "nothing is impossible." There couldn’t have been a truer word uttered for the man he represents — one of the greatest footballers of all time and a living legend.

Ronaldo is currently streaming on Netflix.

Also Read: It was Cristiano Ronaldo who won Portugal the Euro 2016