Ronaldinho produced masterclass vs Paul Scholes’ team in futsal tournament after nap

In terms of pure natural footballing talent, Ronaldinho might be the best player we’ve ever seen.

It’s a joke how good the Brazilian was at his peak. There’s nothing he couldn’t do with a football at his feet.

He would regularly embarrass top-level opponents with his extensive array of fancy flicks and tricks but, crucially, also had bags of end product.

During his unforgettable five-year spell with Barcelona, Ronaldinho was unquestionably the world’s most exciting footballer.

Winner of the 2005 Ballon d’Or award, the only reason Ronaldinho isn’t always spoken about in the same breath as Pele, Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo is due to his lack of longevity.

He seemed to fall out of love with football during the latter years of his career and could have achieved even more had he not lost the hunger that saw him reach the top of his profession.

Despite that, Ronaldinho continued to entertain football fans with his extraordinary abilities up until the day he called time on his professional career.

And in 2016, one year after leaving his final club Fluminense, Ronaldinho showed that class is permanent during the inaugural Indian Premier Futsal League.

The Brazilian icon turned out for Goa and faced a Bengaluru side led by Manchester United legend Paul Scholes which also featured former Argentina international Hernan Crespo.

Providing commentary on the match was Sam Matterface, now ITV’s lead football commentator, who tells a fantastic story about Ronaldinho’s teammates looking for him shortly before kick-off… only to find him asleep in his car!

“We went to India to do this Premier Futsal tournament – it was absolutely bonkers,” Matterface told talkSPORT in 2021.

“Oh my word… well he only played one game.