The smile is back on Ronaldinho’s face

The neutrals can rejoice as Ronaldinho is back to his dazzling best. After a tepid World Cup by his exacting standard, the Brazilian is now playing like the magician we all know. The smile is back on Ronaldinho and so is it for his fans who are not necessarily obsessive about Brazil or Barcelona. The Germany World Cup lost a bit of sheen for the way Brazil failed to click into the top gear and Ronaldinho was the main culprit though the critics had busy time mocking at the ever-expanding waistline of Ronaldo. Apart from the peerless Pele and the eccentric Garrincha, no player had shone in more than one World Cup and Ronaldinho was no exception.

Ronaldinho seemed to have carried his lethargy into his club season as well with a series of belowpar performances early on in the Spanish League. It’s the bane of great players that their failures never go unnoticed. Was it the beginning of the end of a beautiful story? Had Barcelona’s opponents cracked the Ronaldinho code? No, was the emphatic reply of the Brazilian who is on fire in the last few weeks. There are many sportspersons who are admired worldwide but not all of them are loved as much. Ronaldinho has the rare ability to evoke both admiration and love.

A needle Champions League match against Werder Bremen brought out the vintage Ronaldinho last week. The champions of Europe were in a mustwin situation to make it to the last 16. Anything less than three points would have condemned Barcelona to the ignominy of becoming the first champions to bow out in the group stage itself. The Spanish giants’ task was not made easier by the absence of their two key players — Samuel Eto’o and Lionel Messi — with long-term injuries. Werder, the German league leaders, weren’t pushovers either.

It was a match in which Barca needed something special from Ronaldinho and he did oblige, twice. The Brazilian put his team ahead with a cheeky freekick rarely seen before. Instead of curling the ball over the Werder wall from just outside the penalty area, the smiling assassin skidded one through the ground into the goal.

Such improvisation is hard to acquire through hours of practice because the result was dependent on how high the Werder players would go up in the air. Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard said he could speak on and on about his talisman’s impetuosity and inventiveness with the ball. Barca’s second goal too bore the signature of Ronaldinho in a bold type. Sensing the overlapping run of Ludovic Giuly, the Samba star hit a cross-field pass of unerring accuracy to him from almost the halfway line. Giuly controlled ball with a touch before squaring it to Eidur Gudjohnsen who slotted it in nonchalantly.