Football can be a ruthless business - even if you are as gifted as Ronaldinho. "I was angry at Stamford Bridge," he admits. "I took that defeat very very hard because I thought that we proved over two legs we were a better team than Chelsea ." Even scoring a virtuoso goal in the second leg of the UEFA Champion's League knockout tie didn't help. "Football is a team game, it's not about individual glory. It was hard to swallow, but all you can do is to pick yourself up, stand tall and win your next match. Our first target now must be to win the Spanish League."

But then, as the man who calls himself feo simpatico - ugly, but friendly - says: "Football for me is pleasure, joy, my life. The happiest moment of my day is when I am with the ball, training. Being a footballer is still the best job in the world. It's the one thing I wanted to do as a child. My first presents were a ball and mini boots, so I was encouraged to play at a very early age. I used to sleep and wake up with a ball. I would play with my friends and after they got tired, I kept playing with my dog because he would never stop."

He admits though he wasn't the star of the school football team. "Believe it or not, I had to ask some of the other boys if I could be on their team. We had some very talented footballers at our school and I was one of the smaller kids. They didn't always want me to play with them." His luch changed after he scored 20 goals in one youth game. "I still remember that, that was amazing."

In the late 1990s, European journalists descended on Ronaldinho's home town of Porto Alegre , to find out where this Brazilian had come from. They were informed Ronaldinho had an uncle, already over 40, who was better than him. "But where, where?" the excited reporters asked. "Rua, rua," they were told and went looking for Rua Football Club, unaware the word means street.

While Ronaldinho's sublime skills were moulded on the streets, his character came from the cradle. "I have always wanted to win ever since I was young. Even at scissors, paper, stone, so I have always been very, very competitive." He had many heroes as a youngster, but it was Romario who became his biggest idol after the 1994 World Cup: "I was 13 and watching him on TV, I looked at him and said: 'that's what i want my life to be, I want to be like this guy, I want to be a world champion."

Still only 25, he hasn't taken long to emulate his idol and become an icon for Brazil and Barcelona . Ironically, the Barca star was first called into the Brazilian national side by Wanderly Luxemburgo, now coach at Real Madrid.

"I admire him a lot. Mangers put their personalities on their teams and each has a different system. Luxemburgo is a tremendous winner and has already imposed stronger marking and fast attacking at Real Madrid."

It took a while before his local club Gremio received offers for him that they couldn't refuse. He left for Paris-Saint-Germain in 2001, but didn't play for almost six months because of a dispute that led to the French club because of a dispute that led to the French club compensating Gremio to the tune of £2.3 million. He was inconsistently brilliant for PSG, until Barca signed him.

Ronaldinho believes it's inevitable Brazil will keep producing great football stars and that, like him, the best will want ot head to Europe: "Football is in our country's culture. The strong love will never die. The ability is in our blood. That's why we'll always have great players. But everyone has big dreams, everyone wants one day to play with the greatest. And to play with the greatest, you have to come to Europe. It's like a ladder in life."

He may have been voted the best player in the world, but he's not satisfied with his game. "I do not score enough headers. That is the weakest part of my game, but I am practising very hard and getting better little by little."

Praised by Johan Cruyff and Diego Maradona, he is the kind of players other footballer admit that they would pay to watch, but who does he like to watch most? "Samuel Eto'o and Deco are magnificent entertaining footballers. I'd also pay to watch Zidane and Ronaldo. They are truly great and have amazing skills."

This array of talents add spice to the original el classico, the Barcelona v Real Madrid derby. "It's the best game anyone can watch in the whole world," he says. "It's a match every player wants to play in, and up until now, I'm pleased to say, a match I have always won."

His status as world player of the year has been raised with his leading roles in football's campaign against racism and the recent tsunami charity match at Camp Nou. His involvement in huminatarian causes is an instinctive response to his own childhood: "In Brazil, most players come from a poor background, many from favelas. They are aware of helping others because they know how hard it is. I am trying to give a good example, mostly to the youngsters so they can do the same in the future."

Ronaldinho joined a TV campaign with Thierry Henry and other top footballers in the fight against racism. He has been supportive of Cameroon team-mate Eto'o, a victim of racial abuse at a Spanish ground who reacted by making monkey gestures back to the crowd. Ronaldinho warns: "This disturbs us. We have to try to minimise it, to eliminate it. The players are together in this. With the official bodies, we have to do something. I hope people will become more conscious about it."

While he doesn't have the obvious trappings of celebritydom, he readily admits he always wants to be famous: "I dreamed of being what I am today, to be well known, to sign an autograph. If I was not like this, I would have been a frustrated guy. I always wanted to go somewhere and have people acknowledge: 'that's the guy who plays good football.' I enjoy that."

He travels without bodyguards and dresses casually, tidying his long hair in a pony tail or bandana. The only obvious sign of wealth is his taste for it-don't mean-a-thing-if-it-ain't-got-that-bling-jewellery. Direct and uncomplicated, he is even happy to discuss the way he looks: "Look, I am ugly but charming, I am a good person, able to buy a sandwich.... So adding it all up, I become a beautiful guy," he laughs.

A scan of the Spanish gossip pages suggests the Barcelona star's social life is quiter now than during his spell in Paris. "I am not a party-goer," he says, arguing that the rumours that circulated at PSG spread because he was often left out of the team. "Paris is very big and it's easier for newspapers to invent you have been here and there. Barcelona is much smaller and everyobdy knows where I am so it's harder to invent things."

He lives in a large house on the outskirts of Barcelona, surrounded by dogs, musical instruments, friends and family. His mother, Dona Miguelina, looks after the family when she is not in Brazil, brother Roberto is his agent and mentor and sister Diese handles his personal agenda. Together, they form Ronaldinho Family Limited. "It's perfect. Our family has always been very friendly, we get more united as the days go on."

Ronaldinho recalls the loss of his father, who drowned in their swimming pool after they moved to a better house in Brazil when he was only nine. "I was very young. My brother took care of everything and he became my friend and my father too. So today I respect and think of him like a father."

After football, his passion is music. A keen percussionist, he is the maestro in the Brazil squad's samba sessions. "I try to be a great drummer but I'm not sure how good I am." Luckily for his neighbours, Ronaldinho's home is detached. He says he make take up music seriously one day, but still has loads of football in him first: "I still have to get a lot of kicking in the chin."

He is almost as devoted to table-tennis. Having played it since he was a kid he is the man to beat in team camps: "I love it. I have a table at home where I play with my friends but I cannot do any stepovers," he jokes. Barca and Brazil team-mate Edmilson is one of his closest ping-pong rivals.

The conversation is interuppted by the sound of a cockerel. It's his mobile phone. Ronaldinho checks the call, apologises and the talk returns to football. He has relished the Champion's League, even - despite the season's outcome - the new extra knockout round: "I like it because each match is like a final, it's the time the pan heats up."

The pan really heated up for him during the World Cup 2002 quarter final against England, a game in which he was sent off after scoring a fine goal. "Everybody asks me about that goal. Yes, I shot to score, but at the other side of goal. The shot came a bit too strong and the ball made a curve, falling just behind David Seaman in the top corner. Marvellous. Cafu was telling me - 'He's out of his goal' - and after I shot, it went into the other side."

He swears his eternal love for Barcelona where the latest talk is a contract for life: "I live very well here, on and off the pitch. Everyday brings a new surprise. The culture is similar to Brazil and this helps me play better. I cannot imagine living somewhere else." He also likes the way coach frank Riijkard lets him play. "He lets me float around the pitch looking for the ball which will suit me. But this season my rivals know me a lot better so it has become harder for me to make as big an impact as when I first wore the Barcelona shirt." One opponent, especially, has made an impression. "The Athletic Bilbao player Andoni Iraola marked me very well."

So who does he want to win the Champion's League? "It's hard to pick anyone, now that we can't win. Personally, I hope a team who plays pretty well wins it this year. I'd like to see my Brazilian friends pick up winners medals: Adriano at Inter; Milan, because of Cafu; Lyon, with Juninho, a good friend; even Juventus because I like Emerson. If any of those win it, I'll be very happy."

Ronaldinho departs after telling us why he's always smiling. "I am happy, I have a marvellous family, good health and do what I like most, which is to play football. With al that, I can only be smiling. There's no other way."