IN DEFENCE OF RONALDINHO

Ronaldinho is one such talent. A World Cup winner whose return from a lengthy injury lay-off has coincided with Barcelona's rapid rise up the Primera Liga table towards a place in next season's Champions League.

On Wednesday night, the incomparable Zinedine Zidane produced a perfect illustration of his ability to master a football. The Frenchman's wondrous control is breathtaking - if a meteorite was ever to hurtle towards the Earth, the answer would be simple. Send out Zidane to bring it down with the tip of his toe. He is the Real deal.

Ronaldinho still has some way to go before he can be considered on a par with the Madrid marvel and he really missed an opportunity to shine at Celtic Park on Thursday.

Yet I feel compelled to write to defend the former Paris Saint Germain forward from the barrage of criticism that came his way from the television commentators in Scotland.

The pay-per-view Setanta coverage I watched was supplied by Celtic's in-house station so you could expect a degree of bias towards the home side. Anybody who has heard Paddy Crerand on MUTV will confirm that it goes with the territory on official club channels.

Fair play to Celtic, who like last year, are proving tough opponents in Europe. Martin O'Neill is a superb manager and his charges delighted the noisy home crowd with a hard-fought 1-0 win in a match that ended up as ten men against nine.

But the treatment of Brazilian star Ronaldinho from the commentators was nothing short of scandalous. While even a number of the Celtic fans seemed to appreciate some of his moments of eye-catching skills, the detracting comments from the pundits failed to recognise any of the highlights he provided.

A few of his trademark tricks made you gasp as his quick feet had me looking the wrong way, let alone bamboozling his markers.

Indeed, at one point, as Archie MacPherson was midway through his latest rebuke of the Barca idol, Ronaldinho produced the pass of the night that should have resulted in a goal for the soon-to-be-departing Javier Saviola. Even when viewing the replay, the magical vision of the South American was summed up as a 'long ball'.

Admittedly, it was not one of his better nights. A high proportion of his passes and tricks did not come off and, when this is the case, they do look a lot worse than when one of his peers opts for a safe square pass lacking in adventure.

Then there is his attitude. It might not be Ronaldinho's job to track back but, when his team is down to ten men, you might expect he would roll up his sleeves and assist his defenders. He dropped a little deeper but did not seem interested in risking injury in the Glasgow hot-house.

I suspect this was the main reason for MacPherson and his colleague's match-long tirade that even turned to mocking the Brazil international when he was substituted as a formality in the closing stages in a bid by Frank Rijkaard to run down the clock.

Us Brits would much rather see our players scrapping for possession, flying into 40-60 tackles and wearing their heart on their sleeve. It is this passion that endears footballers to most supporters and I could not agree more.

For instance, Stephen Pearson's display was impressive as he looked like he was aware of the magnitude of the occasion and wanted to grasp the opportunity to shine. The aggressive and immaculate Carles Puyol did at least attract praise, I'll forgive the fact that the Spain stalwart was described as an Argentinian at one point, although this was balanced out by the panning of another of his team-mates in Luis Garcia, which started as early as the first half.

But the desire to see spirit should not devalue the merits of a different type of player. We must not view individual talents with suspicion, as though they are circus side-shows. We should not be looking for them to fail and then delighting when audacious attempts of creativity do not come off.

Ronaldinho is never going to run himself into the ground. He is a flair player who is allowed to express himself, excite the crowd and make an impact in the opposition's half.

He is a player sadly missed by Manchester United since their failed attempt to sign him last year.

Although I do not want to make excuses for his overall display, which might be described as 'lazy' despite all of his positive work, it cannot be forgotten that Barca did not want to play the game at all after the terrorist attacks in Madrid. Uefa insisted the game went ahead but the back-drop to the tie from the visitors' point of view was far from ideal.

As 'Ronie' made his way off the pitch on Thursday, the commentators forwarded the notion he might only be capable of playing at Camp Nou and is ineffective away from home, whilst verbally waving goodbye to him.

I fear those words could return to haunt Celtic in the return leg, even though Thursday's result presents O'Neill's team with a splendid opportunity to achieve a major scalp, especially if they can score an away goal.

And, if The Bhoys do advance in the competition, one hopes they can go all the way because they will not meet an individual with as much talent as Ronaldinho further down the line and, if they can nullify his impact in Catalunya, then they can rightfully be crowing in the green-and-white half of Glasgow.

But, as O'Neill himself would say, it is only half time - and far too early to be writing off your opponents.

What do you think? Is Ronaldinho a genuine world-class performer? Did he deserve criticism for his display on Thursday? Will he have a greater impact in the second leg? Have your say.