Record Breaker

When it comes to breaking records, Ronaldo clearly doesn’t believe in wasting time. It took him less than five minutes of Brazil’s knock-out phase match with Ghana to establish himself as the greatest ever World Cup goalscorer with a tally of 15.

Appropriately, the goal that took him past legendary German striker Gerd Mueller was vintage Ronaldo. He seized on Kaka’s elegant through ball and swept past Ghana goalkeeper Richard Kingston with a trademark stepover before slotting the ball home with apparent ease.

Seven minutes later, he could have scored again but for the selfishness of Adriano, who spurned the opportunity to square the ball to him for a simple tap in. And later in the game, only the brilliance of Kingston denied him a second.

Few would bet against Ronaldo pushing his total further in this World Cup and adding to the considerable embarrassment of the self-styled ‘experts’ who so recently condemned him as fat, lazy and finished.