I am distressed at the massive circulation in various media of false statements about my private life and specifically about a supposed sentimental relationship with Ms Alexandra Paressant.

 

In some cases the reports go so far as to conclude that the alleged relationship has had a negative influence on my performance as a professional player. I therefore feel obliged firmly to deny the statements published by issuing this press release. It is entirely untrue that Ms. Paressant and I have had any relationship beyond a conversation between acquaintances and that I have neglected my obligations as a player in the Brazilian team, as the press has suggested.

 

The seriousness of this matter has given me no choice but to leave it in the hands of my lawyers, who have already begun the necessary steps to restore my reputation.

 

Everyone is feeling amazingly good.

After qualifying early for the round of 16, we’re obviously feeling a bit more relieved.

The last game against Australia was tough. But we accomplished our mission. Once again, we did what coach Parreira asked us and, thank God, things have fallen into place. We’ll be feeling more relaxed against Japan, and we’re getting better as time goes by. Now we’ll wait and see who we’re playing against in the next stage. Whoever it is, it won’t be easy pickings.

Today, we got acquainted with the Dortmund stadium. It’s an awesome stadium, like all the others we’ve played at. I’m having fun during practice. After the workout with Moraci, that slave driver everyone likes.

There’s something I’ve gotta tell you in this Blog, Émerson is still p… off because he finally lost a videogame. Hehehehe.

Last night I played with Manchester United and won in the penalty shots with Gilberto after two games, then I beat Émerson 1 to 0 and wiped out his mythical invincibility! How could I not razz him about it.

Bah. I was sorry about what happened to Owen in the match against Sweden. When his leg bend inward, I could almost feel it. It looked like rubber. Today I found out that he’ll be sidelined for quite a while. Shoot, it could happen to anyone. Even to me. England will miss him badly. There’s only one thing to do, keep your chin up and keep going.

A good game for us all

 

I already moved into my room here at the Munich hotel. We arrived at about 22:30 h and then had a quick snack. I turned on the laptop before hitting the sack. Let’s see what’s new.

It was a hard day. I met with the international press, practiced in the afternoon and then flew to Munich. It was a fast trip, but it’s always a hassle getting on the bus, getting off the bus, boarding the plane, leaving the plane...

I can get more sleep tomorrow. We’ll practice only in the late afternoon at the stadium where the game will be played.

I can’t wait to get on the field again. We had high expectations for the first game and, although we won, I hope the game against Australia will be a bit smoother like it should. No doubt it’s going to be an awesome game.

Mom is inviting everyone over for a barbecue party at home, and they’ll watch the game on TV. Cheers to everyone in Brazil.

I’ll be back on Monday to talk about the match. I hope we win, obviously.

Well, we won.

 

Maybe our performance didn’t please everyone but we played well.  We did exactly what coach Parreira asked us to and we managed to overcome our first obstacle. What really matters is the positive result and all of the group can be proud of this.

 

A complicating factor was the opening game nervousness which adversely affected our performance. We seemed to be tied down and things didn’t flow like we wanted. But happily this initial tension has now passed and we’re going to loosen up more. A win in the first game gives the group confidence. I’m sure that in Sunday’s game things will happen more like we want them to.

 

Croatia is a very strong team. The match was very difficult. The marking was very hard. No sooner had we controlled the ball than we had two or three of their players on top of us. But that’s what usually happens. We already knew that the game would be like this and I believe that’s what will happen right up to the final.

 

Today we have a day off and I’m going to take advantage and rest a bit because the opening game tension ends up wearing you down physically as well. My brother’s here and we were having a long chat when all of a sudden I had a web-cam meeting with my family not to miss them so much.  I heard that everyone gathered in front of the TV at home there in Porto Alegre to watch the match.

 

A big hug for everyone out there who’s cheering for us.

 

At the end of the week, we played New Zealand in Geneva.

They played like Australians, our adversaries in the group, and it was interesting to get the feel of how football is played in down under. The game is going to be a lot tougher than the last friendly game.

There are no more easy national teams.

According to the CBF schedule, after the game on Sunday we’re going to Germany to stay.

Each day is a day closer to the world cup, and it increases that tingling feeling in your gut. It’s cool.

 

Now writing about Germany.

The city of Konigstein (I had to look at the program to see how it’s spelled), he-he-he.

We flew in last night. It was a quick flight. It was late when we got to the hotel. I only had time to have a snack and jump in bed. I slept like a log. Today is a day off and we have to check in at 22:00 h.

I’ll use this time to rest because we’ll be training tomorrow, in the morning and in the afternoon.

They say the field is perfect, I’m looking forward to trying it.

Today we were stunned by Edmilson having to leave the team.

I’m really upset for him.

Besides being my team mate, he’s also a close friend, a fantastic player that the national team is losing at the start of training camp.

Mineiro is also fabulous and he won’t let us down by replacing Edmilson.

Mineiro was born in Porto Alegre, he-he-he...how do you like that.

He’s from my area.

I can only wish him the best and also wish Edmilson a quick recovery in this difficult time. You just have to hold up your head and keep going.

I was already longing to step on the field and play a real game.

Sure, it was only a friendly game but changing the pace a bit is always exciting.

It was great to feel the fans up close again.

The Luzerna team also helped by always playing the ball even though we scored a lot of goals.

I really enjoyed it.

It was a chance to get the rhythm back.

Today we had a videogame and ping pong championship.

It was great fun...everybody had a good laugh.

This fooling around makes the team a more closely knit group.

The weather isn’t the best. I discovered that we’re in the middle of spring but it seems like winter.

The sun actually comes out in the morning, but then it clouds over and gets misty. And I won’t even mention the cold. It almost seems like Gramado and Canela down in southern Brazil.

But you just have to get used to it...

It was a tiring trip to the city of Weggis here in Switzerland.

Other than that, we’ve been having a lot of fun. The world cup is just around the corner, and everyone is motivated and adapting well.

We haven’t been able to see much yet, but we have to train hard to fine tune the team.

It’s amazing to see how many Brazilians there are all over the world. But it’s not just Brazilians, the team is always welcome by everyone and it hasn’t been any different here.

Personally, I really enjoy a friendly welcome and I also like to make people feel good.

What I can say is that I could not be happier now. Winning the Champions League is both a dream and a goal we had long since. Thank God we made it with much dedication, much struggle and much unity among the group of players, the technical committee and the directors. Let alone our wonderful fans. This title has been given to each fan who has been standing by us.

Congratulations to everybody!

The welcome party in Barcelona was wonderful.

I will never forget it.

I would like to thank everybody who has somehow congratulated me on this title. I’d rather not name a few because I don’t want to forget anybody. However, I would like to give special thanks to my family, who has always stood by me. My mother was supporting us while watching through the TV, in Porto Alegre, my brothers, who were in Paris, and my friends.

Now, everybody’s focus on the World Cup. Early next week we will already be in Switzerland to start working. I am sure people in that region will welcome us.

Before anything else, I would like to say I am very happy for winning the 2005/6 Spanish title. It was a season as wonderful as the previous one. Thank you for the Barça supporters who have always been standing by us. They deserve this victory. Thank you, my teammates, the directors, the employees. Thank you everybody who has worked for this title. Now is the time to celebrate and focus for the Champions League final on the 17th.

I am looking forward to it.

 

I would like to take the chance and send my special regards to Aris people, in Greece, who are going to face a decisive match this weekend. Kind regards to the president, the players, and the fans.

Good luck. I wish you all the best.

I’m very happy about the result of the game against Milan. Nobody expected to go through easily, not even after we won in Milan. and it really wasn’t easy.. Milan played hard from the start. They defended heavily. It was difficult to get through that.

 

But what matters is that we made it through and are living the dream of taking Barca to the Champions League final.

 

From the beginning of the season that had been our objective and thanks goodness we got there. Now we have to prepare ourselves for the final on the 17th. Congratulations to Arsenal who played well to get there. It’s going to be a great game and let the best team win. We hope that it’s us.

 

Before that we have to focus our attention on La Liga. This weekend we have a decisive game against Cadiz. We may even be league champions depending on the other results.

 

Wow, that would really be good

A decisive week is beginning for Barcelona. In fact, it’s another decisive week because each game has been a decision for us both in La Liga and the Champions League. 

 

It will start on Sunday in the game against Sevilla away from home.  Our aim is to try to get a good result to keep the point difference on the league table and then, on Wednesday, it’s the return game against Milan. What a game.

 

Last Tuesday we had a spectacular result at San Siro. Milan are one of the best teams in the world and we came back from Italy with a victory. It couldn’t have been better. It’s a good advantage but we can’t lose our concentration. Any moment of poor concentration can mean we lose it at the end.

 

Now I want to concentrate all my efforts for that aim of getting to the final of the Champions League.

My family has always followed Easter traditions to the letter. Everyone together, nests and Easter eggs. Moments that I remember to this day.

My mother has already returned to Porto Alegre but even so I am looking to follow our traditions by spending Easter with my sister and the people that are with me on a daily basis. On this day I would like to wish a happy Easter to everyone in the world regardless of beliefs, race or religion.  Lots of unity, lots of love and health for the whole world.

 

I was very happy with the win Grêmio had last week against its traditional rival Internacional. It must have been a great party atmosphere amongst the Gremio fans in Porto Alegre. Especially as it was made champion at its rival's stadium. Congratulations to all Gremio fans, and my friends at the time I played for Gremio who I miss so much. I hope they are very happy and that Gremio is lucky in this Brazilian championship that began on Sunday.

Ronaldinho

Today I had lunch with my friend Mauricio de Souza.

The father of the “Turma da Mônica” cartoon strips.

It was really great! I was very happy with how our character had turned out. The album and the comic books are becoming really popular. I hope the kids are enjoying it.

Maurício is a really great guy.

A big hug goes out to him and I hope he can come and visit me more often.

 

Tomorrow is the big deciding game against Benfica, but I’m not going to write anything about that today. I want to keep my mind focused.

 

It was no different than we had expected. The game against Benfica was very difficult. The Portuguese team marks its opponent strongly, but is loyal. I think the draw ended up being a good result despite the fact we had the best chances.

 

It’s going to be an unforgettable week for whoever loves football. There’s a great game this Saturday against Real Madrid and after that the second of the Benfica game.

 

We have great expectations for these games.

 

I’m training a lot so I can be 100%.

Ronaldinho