Upon arriving in Barcelona, everyone realized a reality that would mark the future of the player and his team: Rivaldo was not a particularly nice guy. He didn't have the magical smile that Ronaldinho would exhibit, nor the freshness of the young Ronaldo —whom, somehow, 'Rivo' had to replace—, nor the eternal carefreeness of Romario.
No, Rivaldo was not precious: Rivaldo was business. Give him a ball and he'll charge up his wonderful left leg and send it into the top corner. Forget about rabonas, elasticas or espaldinhas: 'Rivo' wasn't into decorations. His dribbles were drier than the Atacama desert: his shots, harder than granite. The Brazilian was a killing machine without poetry. Rivaldo was Terminator.
"One day, in training, I saw that Rivaldo kicked the ball giving a three-quarter turn with his body. I tried to tell him that it would be easier if he did it more naturally and didn't spin so much on himself. The next day he scored a goal giving everything turned around. I decided that it would be better to do it as he pleased"
Carles Rexach, ex-soccer player and tolerant coach
If anything characterized Rivo, it was doing things... his way. He won the Ballon d'Or, but he didn't want to share his success with anyone; he was key in Brazil's triumph in the 2002 World Cup, but everyone will always remember Ronaldo as an architect; He scored hundreds of goals and gave innumerable assists, but he always gave the feeling that the ten teammates around him were a kind of hindrance to his football.
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