ULSAN (Korea), May 29: The world is still waiting to see whether Ronaldo can return to greatness but the man himself has no such doubts.

The twice former Player of the Year, apparently stung by the suggestion he might not return to being the player he once was, has left his modesty at home, heaping praise on himself and taking provocative swipes at his opponents.

At times, he has resembled former heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali at his mouthiest.

Ronaldo’s first outburst came last week in Malaysia when he was amazed to discover that bookmakers did not consider him among the favourites to finish topscorer at the World Cup.

“Not many people are betting on me but now I’m going to surprise everybody and the people who believed in me are going to win lots of money,” he said.

He was again in cocky mood after scoring his first international goal for nearly three years in the 4-0 win over Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur last Saturday, claiming that Brazil’s so-called “Three R” attack — himself, Ronaldinho and Rivaldo — was one to be feared.

“It’s a trio that is going to cause a lot of headaches to opponents. We have a lot of quality,” he said. “I’m sure that if we at our best, we will always be worth a goal’s head start. We will play great football in the World Cup and score lots of goals.”

That was followed by a swipe at the defence of China, Brazil’s second opponents in group C.

“I’ve always scored goals against the best defenders in the world so I’m not going to worry about facing the defence of China,” he said dismissively.

The Phemomenon continued in the same vein when asked about his continued worldwide popularity.

“If this popularity exists, it’s because I worked hard to earn it,” he claimed.

From the moment he made his international return against Yugoslavia in March, Ronaldo has made it clear he intends to be the best again and regain the mantle he has lost to players such as Luis Figo and Zinedine Zidane.

“I want to start slowly but I remain very ambitious. In my career I have always conquered everything I wanted. My objective is to be the best again, I know it might take time but I will do it,” he said at the time.

Two-and-a-half years of injury misery and continued speculation about what happened at the 1998 World Cup final France have clearly riled a player who until France ‘98 had only enjoyed success.

After he underwent the second of two operations on his right knee, there was even speculation that Ronaldo’s career could be over.

Ronaldo admitted this week that the continuing doubts had left him exasperated.—Reuters