Ronaldinho on a joy at Flamengo: “I could laugh at that fool” | OneFootball

Ronaldinho revealed behind-the-scenes details of the legendary free-kick goal against Santos, under the wall

Santos 4–5 Flamengo, in 2011, is one of the greatest matches in the history of the Brazilian Championship. With Ronaldinho on one side and Neymar on the other, Mengão came back after trailing 3–0 at Vila Belmiro. The most iconic goal of the match was scored by R10, from a free kick that went under the wall. To this day, the gaucho still has fun with the play and mocks former teammate Rodrigo Alvim over it.

— You (Alvim) won’t let me lie here. We used to train together, and I was practicing free kicks under the wall, and he’d say, ‘you’re crazy.’ So I said: ‘at Vila Belmiro the pitch is wet, they’re going to jump and I’m going to hit it underneath’ — Ronaldinho began, in a Netflix documentary.

— We trained with an iron wall that had a little gap underneath. So if it went through there, it would go through in a game too. I kept practicing, and he kept calling me crazy. That free-kick goal was one of the most satisfying of my life. I got to keep laughing in that idiot’s face (Rodrigo Alvim, R10’s former teammate at Fla) — he added.

HOW DID THE GOAL HAPPEN?

Santos were leading 4–3, already in the second half, when Ronaldinho was fouled near the box. The number 10 himself took the ball and stunned the world by sending it under the wall, giving the goalkeeper of the São Paulo team no chance to save it.

In the first half, Santos went 3–0 up, with two goals from Borges and one from Neymar (who would later win FIFA’s Puskas Award for the most beautiful goal in the world). Even before halftime, Mengo pulled level, with goals from Ronaldinho, Thiago Neves, and Deivid.

Right at the start of the second half, Neymar scored the fourth with another brilliant goal. But Ronaldinho equalized with the surprising free kick and then completed the comeback near the end, sealing the epic turnaround for the team then coached by Vanderlei Luxemburgo.

SO HOW WAS RONALDINHO AT FLAMENGO, AFTER ALL?

Signed in 2011, Ronaldinho won that year’s Campeonato Carioca, but left the club the following season because of delayed salary payments. Wearing the Sacred Shirt, R10 played 72 matches, scored 28 goals, and provided 17 assists in just under two years.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.