Ronaldinho's incredible performance for Barcelona at Real Madrid in 2005 remembered | OneFootball

For some football fans, Ronaldinho is the greatest player to have ever played the game. The argument doesn’t stand up too well when you compare his achievements to the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, in truth. But there's no doubting the Brazilian is one of the greatest to play the game.

Especially during his Barcelona days. For two seasons - 2005/06 and 2006/07 - Ronaldinho was almost unstoppable at Camp Nou. He scored 50 goals during those two seasons and was rewarded with the Ballon d’Or in 2005. What’s more, he did it all with a smile on his face. You just couldn’t hate Ronaldinho.

Sadly, they don’t make them like him any more. This is why it’s important to occasionally take a moment to look at some of the greatest moments of his career. And that’s what we’re doing today. That’s because it’s exactly 18 years to the day since Ronaldinho’s finest hour. It came at the Bernabeu in El Clasico during an emphatic 3-0 victory for Barcelona. And Ronaldinho was just astonishing scoring two amazing goals.

His first came after skipping past defender Sergio Ramos’ challenge, jinking inside Ivan Helguera and finishing past Iker Casillas. His second was similarly brilliant. Once again, he left Ramos in his wake before finishing from a tight angle past Casillas.

Ronaldinho gets standing ovation at the Bernabeu

Casillas shook his head and shrugged as if to say ‘How do we stop him?’ Meanwhile, the Real Madrid fans inside the Bernabeu stood up and started applauding what they had just witnessed.

But it wasn’t just his two goals. Ronaldinho’s overall performance was the definition of a masterclass. And there’s a reason why the below compilation video of his display against Real Madrid that night has got more than 20 million views on YouTube. It’s simply sensational. Take a look:

Ronaldinho's performance vs Real Madrid in 2005

Shortly after the game, Samuel Eto'o - the other goalscorer that day - spoke to Barça TV and he couldn’t quite believe what he’d seen. "When Ronaldinho scored that goal when he got rid of everyone, even his teammates, I stood there in disbelief, looked to one side and muttered to myself: 'But, what is happening?' It was unbelievable." he said.

However, Ronaldinho didn’t realise the incredible reception he earned from the Real Madrid supporters at the time. "No, I didn't realise in the moment," he said. "I remembered when we arrived to the locker room and everybody was talking about it and I went to check it on the TV.

"Because of the joy of scoring and the celebration, I didn't notice the standing ovation. It's special. Only a few players have had this joy of being acclaimed by the fans of your arch-rivals in a derby."

He truly was a one-of-a-kind player and this was an astonishing display of pure footballing talent. It's not often that the opposition fans applaud a rival player, especially when the feeling between to two clubs in question is as bitter as it is between Barca and Madrid, but Ronaldinho was just so good, that he rightfully got his plaudits from every end of the Bernabeu on this day 18 years ago.