brazil has always had superstars when it came to football there has to be something special about them it almost seems like everyone was born to play football and to play it beautifully with five world cup trophies it's hard to argue that their football is not just beautiful but also efficient regardless if you want to up the ante there have been special decades for sure the 60s with pele and gerringsha the 80s with ziko and socrates and more recently the late 90s to early 2000s with john mario ronald phenom no ronaldinho roberto carlos kaka and two things can easily be noted when listening to these names first of all most of them are offensive players and secondly one name was missing and perhaps this abundance of quality forwards is what leads it to being forgotten so often that name is rivaldu and today i'll not only tell you but i'll show you why he was absolutely one of the greatest players of all time he was born in a northern region of brazil which already set a precedent for the tough time he would eventually have trying to get brazil to accept him as one of their star players despite his talent most legendary brazilian players have been born in the south and that left after country to show a certain resistance to having a northern player become so prominent in their squad but regardless i'm getting ahead of myself as a kid rivald was shockingly poor living in a favela you would experience hunger from a young age malnutrition would eventually have physical repercussions making him bow legged and even leading him to lose his teeth to help out the family he would spend his mornings as a teenager by the beach selling souvenirs to the tourists once that was done he would go into the beach where he would play football for the rest of the day and where he would develop his game until at the age of 16 he started playing for the youth team of palestine football club this was a special day for hivaldo and an even more special day for his father since rivaldo and his two brothers were kids their father told them that one day one of them would become a football player and would save them from poverty the magical story of rags to riches seemed to be forming day by day but then disaster struck his father we had always had a close relationship with got into a car accident and passed away rivaldo has said he could not touch a ball for a month after his father died and really thought he'd never do it again that only changed as his mother told him that he had to make his father's dream come true that if he had always been by his side he would for sure look over him on the pitch so rival carried on unable to pay for the plus tickets he would walk 10 miles to attend the training sessions oddly enough the feeling of being overlooked has followed him since those times rivaldo has said in an interview that even back then no one believed in him that they said these teammates would be stars but he wouldn't be able to make the cuts but has decided himself no one remembers the name of those supposed stars but they do remember it is now at 19 he started his first professional season playing for santa cruz in the second division and despite only taking part in nine matches he would finish the season with 11 goals after a substantially less prolific second season he would move to another state and start playing for moji meeting where after only one season he would finally earn himself a move to a first division club joining cardinians on loan after missing the final of the brazilian championship by a single point despite being only three goals off of finishing as the top scorer of the competition it would be on the move yet again joining the reigning champions palmetto proof that his value was finally being recognized joining a team with players like kafu and roberto carlos in his first season there he would help palmeiras maintain their title beating none other than his former team corinthians in the final where hivaldo scored three goals securing himself the third highest tally of the league once again the following season he would fail to win the league but would have his first chance at an international tournament playing the capitals libertadore scoring five goals in his first eight matches it seemed like rivaldu might have been able to carry his team to the top but then 16 minutes into the quarterfinal match against graeme rivaldo got a red card for stomping another player with rivaldu off the pitch it was all downhill from there as they conceded three goals in six minutes grammy wedding their squad the almighty mario chartel would score three times that night and who deserves video about him one day what do you think are you familiar with original super mario after one last season in a disappointing olympic games with brazil where he would fail to score taking home the bronze medal rivaled will by now it's shown he wasn't the type of player to stay around too long would move to europe joining deportivo de la coruna for a single season he would score 21 league goals and help karina get a 4th place finish much better than their previous season's 9th these performances caught the eye of many but it was impossible not to make the comparison as another brazilian forward 4 years younger than him playing in the same league and with a similar name i just managed 12 more goals in rival of course i'm talking about ronaldo phenomenal by the end of the year would win his first ballon d'or oddly enough ronald would leave barcelona for intern and despite rivaldo's lower numbers the frequent comparisons only made the choice easier barcelona wanted him to replace ronaldo it took on the challenge and it's hard to question his success despite only getting 19 league goals in his first season rivaldo would lead barcelona to win the league the copa del rey and the european super cup in his first season after not being called up for the 1997 cup america rivaldo got a shot at the 1998 world cup perhaps his big money move to barcelona was enough of a statement regardless he would play every single minute of the tournament notably turning the game against denmark in brazil's favor twice to get them to the semi-finals and zidane facing off but with two goals by zidane and a resounding three-nil win france seemed like the clearly superior team the following season despite scoring twice to ensure a point against manchester united in the champions league group stage they would not be able to make it any further domestically though it was different rival duets some of his most prolific times in totaling 23 league goals only one less than haul gonzales plus an incredible 14 assists it would carry barcelona to their second consecutive league title by summer rivaldo had built a strong case to win the ballon d'or with his main adversary being a young david beckham who had taken manny united to the top of world football making him the first ever english travel winner tough competition but rivaldo made the most out of the rest of the year over the summer he took part in the copa america for the first time the group stage didn't go too well first match against venezuela brazil won 7-0 rival gets the last goal second match mexico he gets a red card and that's it he's suspended and only comes back in the knockout stage but that's when things got interesting in the quarterfinal match against argentina brazil goes down early and rival comes to the rescue scoring to level the match before ronaldo gets the winning goal against mexico rivaldo scores the second to get brazil to the final where he put the sherry on the cake rivaldo scores two and assists the third to get brazil the trophy this tournament would lead many people to start rating this year above david beckham's and if they needed any more confirmation well rivaldu got back on the plane came back to spain and started a new season with 12 goals in 15 matches though he did have a dry spell in december it was too late voters had made their minds up and by the end of the year rivaldo won the ballon d'or right after the ballon d'or one major problem came up louis van gaal insisted in playing rivaldo in a deeper more central role while the player felt like he would always perform better on the wing regardless the results were pretty mixed domestically his performances started leading to much fewer goals but in the champions league well i guess it worked it would score 10 goals the only time he ever managed the double digits mark scoring against the likes of fiorentina arsenal and puerto in the group stage it would go one to have his most impressive performance in the quarter-final match against chelsea after a three-to-one defeat in the first leg as barcelona needed a miracle it would be revolt would open the scoresheet four minutes before the final whistle the game had reached the draw and rivaldu at the chance of converting a penalty which he would miss as they would go into extra time only nine minutes into it rivaled got the chance to convert the penalty once again and that was it barcelona were now leading and would go into the semi-finals where unfortunately valencia would take the upper hand with van gaal gone and rivaled back in his desired position and closing in on 29 years old he would have his most prolific season getting 36 goals in 53 matches finishing as that second highest scorer of la liga once again one goal behind halal gonzales in the champions league would be excellent getting six goals in six matches including a hat-trick against ac milan which still would only get barcelona a third place finish and an exit towards the uefa cup where he would score five goals in five matches before falling to liverpool in the semifinals despite all the goals rivaldo didn't win a single trophy that year truly want to forget if it weren't for one match that would never be forgotten let me set the stage for you last league match of the season barcelona versus valencia barcelona are three points behind valencia with a better goal difference whoever wins gets the last available champions league spot millions are on the table three minutes in rivaldo scores an outrageous free kick then valencia get a goal back and right before halftime rivaldu gets the ball outside the box and fakes the dribble finds the space and shoots another screamer one minute into the second half valencia tied the match once again the rest of the match was a continuous fight for a third goal when rivaldo nearly scoring from a direct corner kick but finally 90 seconds before the 90 minute mark with his back turned towards the goal rivaldo sends the ball up with his chest and bam bicycle kick incredible a masterpiece of a performance no words to describe it after one last season with barcelona where he would only get eight league goals he would decide to leave perhaps because van gaal had came back to coach over the summer he would play his second ever world cup his start to the tournament would be something impressive to say the least in the first match he would score the winning goal then it's scoring each of the following two matches as brazil destroyed china and costa rica in the last 16 and the quarters he would score both openers against belgium and england to total five consecutive games scoring in the world cup but from then on ronaldo took the spotlight scoring all three of brazil's goals over the rest of the tournament as they finally managed to get the much desired fifth world cup five goals in a world cup is impressive regardless but when you have a teammate scoring eight including all of the semi-final and final goals it's tough to stand out playing just to give you an example he only played a total of 30 minutes during the champions league knockout stage and still got the title it's just not the same clearly so bad were his performances that he would end up winning the bidon dodo an award given to the most disappointing player of the year in italy from here on well let's just say rivaled with a strange career he was now 31 years old and would still play until he was 42. as you might imagine he was all over the place first one season at cruzeiro that turned out to be more like two months since van der ley lucienborg left and he didn't want to be there without him then three seasons at olympiacus where he would win the league title three times scoring at a good rate still and being great help overall even once scoring a goal on the last match day to secure the league for olympiaks after a dispute with the war they would join aek honestly just kind of to take revenge on them eventually even showing four fingers to the cameras as they beat olympiakus for nil then came another odd transfer three years in uzbekistan as you might imagine they were paying him very very very well then he joined sao paulo and after a not so great season he would finish his contract through mutual agreements when you thought it couldn't get any weirder you would join the angolan league for one year before joining sankayatan was second division brazilian team and leaving to 20 injury and finally he joined his last ever team majimilim one of the first teams he played for they were now in the third division and his son also played there as he retired he stayed as the president of the club well yeah pretty weird rivald was one hell of a character and certainly a tough player to judge very skillful taking into account his height very prolific he scored lots of wonder goals but with a very introverted personality he never achieved the icon status of some of his contemporaries to further impact this he also had a very disappointing trophy cabinet at club level which could have been outshined by his international achievements with brazil but in a way people forget to give him any praise for that as his teammates constantly took the spotlight it really had a tough time asserting himself as a legendary player and i'm very curious to see what you guys think now getting into our ranking system finishing is incredible especially when it came to acrobatic stuff but some players were substantially more prolific it's a 9 out of 10. playmaking is an 8 out of 10 a great assist provider but once again his numbers just don't seem to match how spectacular he looked on the pitch dribbling was fantastic just shy of the very best a 9 out of 10.
speed and physicality is impressive is one of those players whose playstyle doesn't match his stature very graceful despite his heights and 9 out of 10 mentality well very reserved determined and with incredible perseverance i just feel like he liked the personality to become a leader like some other players whose presence seemed to just be enough to take their teammates to another level it's a 9 out of 10. longevity and adaptability is a tough one long career but a lot of time in really weird leagues not that much time at top level it's an 8 out of 10. flair is simple gracious on the pitch and incredible goals and 9 out of 10.
trophy cabinet is tough as well lots of trophies but rarely taking the spotlights to an extent i don't think his champions league should even be considered given he barely played it's an 8 out of 10. lastly icon factor it's nearly the focus of this video it just kept getting overshadowed mostly due to being born in such an impressive brazilian generation it's a 7 out of 10.
