Former FC Barcelona and Brazil great Ronaldo, 33, has today announced that he will retire from the game at the end of the 2010-2011 season. Currently playing his football in Brazil with Corinthians the striker today confirmed that he will hang up his boots in two more years time. The announcement comes after the player recently extended his contract with the club.

In a statment on Corinthians offical website Ronaldo said “I renewed the contract for two more years and it will be the last years of my career. I want to play at the top. I hope to have fun and end with significant achievements.” He also spoke of the possibility of featuring for his country at this summers World Cup saying “We’ll see. I still have a chance to go far.”

Thought of by many as the greatest striker of his generation, Ronaldo was known for his pace and power, he was famously dangerous when running at defenders and also had a few samba skills to boot. He was brought to the Camp Nou at the start of the 1996-1997 season by the newly appointed Bobby Robson, who also coached the Brazilian at PSV Eindhoven. During his one season with Barca he scored an unprecendted 46 goals in 51 appearances, winning the Copa Del Rey, Cup Winners Cup and Spanish Super Cup in the process.  Today many pundits and commentators still recall this time as the strikers finest hour.

Due to a falling out between himself and the Barca board of directors Ronaldo was to move to Inter Milan in the summer of 1997. He later famously moved to Barca’s bitter rivals Real Madrid, where he spent four and a half years, scoring 104 goals in his time there, before moving back to Italy to play for Inter’s bitter rivals AC Milan.

During his long and illustrious career Ronaldo has won every title and trophy there was to win, including the World Cup twice with Brazil, with the only winners medal not garnering his collection being that of the Champions League, which, it seems, will always evade him. On an individual basis Ronaldo won many accolades during his career including the World Player Of The Year award, which he won three times. He was also crowned La Liga’s top scorer on three occassions and won the European Golden Boot for his season with FC Barcelona.

Despite wearing the white of Madrid, Ronaldo is still thought of fondly by Barca fans for that one amazing season he gave the Blaugrana.

Belarus International and FC Barcelona loan out Alexander Hleb, 28, has today given an interview to VFB Stuttgart’s official website, where he discussed the upcoming Champions League game between VFB, the club where he is currently on loan for the season, and his parent team FC Barcelona. Some exceprts:

Alex, how are you feeling on the day before the game against FC Barcelona?

I feel very good! I’m having fun playing football again and I am physically completely fit.

Last season you played for FC Barcelona and know most of the players personally. What makes Barcelona so dangerous?

Barcelona are probably the best club team in the world! They play together fantastically and, too add to that, they are also very successful. The players have an absolutely blind understanding of one another on the pitch, they have a lot of fun, are all well able to dribble with the ball and play the best combination football in the world. Sometimes it’s simply unbelievable.

What are you expecting from this game?

This game is very important for the whole club and our fans. Of course it will be very difficult as its against Barca, but we also have a slight chance of beating them. We’ll get our chances and we must take them! We’ll need to be solid at the back and we can’t afford to make any mistakes. At Barcelona, every individual player has the ability to decide a game all by himself, so it’s not enough if you just concentrate on one or two players. If we are compact though, communicate with one another, show no fear and perform at our very best, a surprise result is possible!

According to Portuguese paper Abola, FC Barcelona are keen on Benfica winger and Argentine international Angel Di Maria (22). It is highly expected the winger will leave Benfica this summer and it seems the player has suitors to spare, with the paper reporting that besides barcelona Real Madrid, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Chelsea are all tracking the winger. It is thought that if a move was to take place the transfer fee would be around 40 million Euros.

The left-winger has been a pivotal part of Benfica’s success this season, scoring 4 goals in 26 appearances, as well as contributing to 3 assists.