Bravura confronted by the ultimate German barrier

During a pause in play in Brazil's semi-final victory over Turkey the canary-shirted end of the Saitama 2002 Stadium suddenly broke into cheers. A glance at the scoreboard opposite revealed the reason. The face of Ronaldinho, kept out of the tie through suspension, was on the screen.

Ronaldo de Assis Moreira, or Ronaldinho Gaucho as he became known to distinguish him from "the other Ronaldo", the man who will play alongside him in the World Cup final tomorrow, has been the darling of Brazil since his first stunning goal for the Selecão in 1999. Due to managerial whims and legal wrangles the rest of the footballing world has had to wait but now it, too, is falling in love with the latest phenomenon from the favelas. Even those curmudgeons who wish to believe the free-kick he dipped over David Seaman was a fluke were entranced by the dazzling run which opened up England's defence for Rivaldo's goal. It was just what Brazil's fans, domestic and international, expect from their footballers.

Ronaldinho knows this as well as anyone. He has said: "I've always made a point of watching tapes of Pele and Rivelino. At the age of eight when I was kicking a ball about I used to pretend to be Romario. As an adolescent I caught the rise of Ronaldo and Rivaldo."

Admitting he finds it hard to believe he now plays alongside his former heroes, he said of Ronaldo "Sometimes I want to tell him that he doesn't have to run because I'll do it for him." Ronaldinho's first heroes were his brother, Roberto Assis, and father, João. Both also played for Gremio with Assis, nine years Ronaldinho's elder, going on to play in Switzerland, Portugal, Japan and Mexico. The success of his brother lifted the impoverished family out of the shanty town where a barefoot Ronaldinho had learned his first skills in the streets, but the move came at a terrible price.

While Assis was still at Gremio the family moved into a big house with a swimming pool. It is the classic symbol of success – Rivaldo's pool even has his autograph marked out in tiles on the bottom – but for Ronaldinho and Assis it brought only tragedy. One night, as the young Ronaldinho looked on, João drowned in it. Ronaldinho now carries with him a tape recording in which his father tells him one day he will be a great player like his brother. "I listen to it all the time," he said. "It is my inspiration."

Level-headed and intelligent, Ronaldinho eventually put the trauma behind him and broke into the Gremio team at 18 and the Selecão a year later. Marked out as a star of the future due to his performances in the Under-17 World Championships he seemed to confirm his promise with a stunning individual goal against Venezuala in the Copa America that evoked comparison with Pele's in the 1958 World Cup final.

Afterwards Careca, the centre-forward in Brazil's brilliant but unrewarded 1982 World Cup team, suggested he would eclipse the other Ronaldo. "Ronaldo is a good player with limitations," he said. "He is a big case of marketing. Ronaldinho is the genuine article."

The reluctance of Wanderley Luxemburgo, then the manager, to play him for Brazil slowed Ronaldinho's progress and when he decided to move to Europe in 2001 the cream of Europe's clubs demurred. Eventually Paris St-Germain, who had a tradition of fielding Brazilians including Rai and Leonardo, signed him but legal wrangling with Gremio meant he did not play for five months. Struggling with the language he then started slowly but, with his sister, Daisy, joining him in Paris, his improved form brought an international recall. A dazzling performance against Portugal in April clinched his World Cup place, ironically enabling Scolari to finally dispense with Romario, Ronaldinho's boyhood favourite and one-time room-mate.

Ronaldinho has repaid Scolari's faith, catching the eye with his passing and dribbling as well as that goal against England. Pele yesterday said Ronaldinho was his player of the tournament and, naturally, the rumour mill has begun to whirr. Internazionale are the first club to be linked with him but Laurent Perpere, PSG's club president, quickly insisted Ronald -inho will remain in Paris. That is unlikely. Given the finances of French football someone, probably from Spain or Italy, will purchase Perpere's asset.

It should be a good investment. Many a starlet has struggled under the weight of expectation but Ronaldinho has already met with enough tragedy and triumph to take the long view. "I think deeply about the game," he said. "Beforehand I think about what is going to happen and during it I analyse what is going well for the team and what isn't. It's all part of fulfilling my potential."

This World Cup has produced a wonderful story in South Korea's run to the semi-finals and a heart-warming human one in Ronaldo's redemption. What it is yet to produce is a new face bursting on to the world stage as Michael Owen did in 1998. El Hadji Diouf, Junichi Inamoto, Landon Donovan, Damien Duff, Ahn Jung-Hwan and Hasan Sas all threatened to do so before fading from the scene. Tomorrow Ronaldinho has the opportunity to confirm his emergence as a global player of the first rank.

Ronaldinho Fact File

Born: 21 March 1980, Porto Alegre

Club: Paris St-Germain (signed July 2001)

Previous club: Gremio

International debut: v Latvia on 26 June 1999

Caps: 29

Goals: 12

Trophies: Winner's medals at the 1999 Copa America and the Under-17s South American and World championships.

Honours: Capped at every level from Under-17s upwards.

World Cup 2002: Appearances 4; Mins 247; Shots 9 (On target 4); Goals 2; Yellow cards 1; Red cards 1.