RONALDINHO BEHIND BARS

The legendary Brazilian footballer has gone from scoring World Cup-winning goals to playing five-a-side in a maximum-security prison

- LAVERN DE VRIES

IT WASN’T a surprise to spot him on the pitch. He is, after all, a Brazilian football legend, a two-time Fifa world player of the year and a Ballon d’Or winner.

But what fans didn’t expect to see was Ronaldinho playing futsal [five-a-side indoor soccer] in a dusty Paraguayan prison yard.

Kitted out in a white vest and black shorts, he led his team – all fellow inmates in the maximum-security prison – to a glorious 11-2 thrashing.

Not only did the 40-year-old former striker find the back of the net five times, he also assisted in each of the six goals his teammates scored.

Yes, he wiped the floor with the opponents, winning a prize pig he and his team later feasted on, but the fact he played the game with a pair of borrowed soccer boots caught many off-guard.

What had happened to the fleet-footed footballer who was once at the top of his game, fans wondered. The ever-smiling soccer star who at one point had it all?

It’s an all-too-familiar tale of a gifted young footballer flying too close to the sun. Since hanging up his boots some two years ago, Ronaldinho has rapidly fallen from grace.

He’s reportedly millions in debt, has had all his properties seized and his rumoured plans to marry his two girlfriends at the same time at his Rio de Janeiro mansion caused controversy in his homeland where polygamy is outlawed.

In the latest drama to dog him, the famous footballer with the goofy, bucktoothed grin was arrested in Paraguay along with his brother for allegedly using fake passports and IDs to enter the country, which borders their native Brazil.