Ronaldinho eyes ´biggest achievement´

Atletico Mineiro star Ronaldinho is bidding to join a distinguished group of players to have won both the Champions League and Copa Libertadores.

Atletico head into Wednesday’s second leg of their final against Paraguayan club Olimpia trailing 2-0, following a disappointing away leg in which Ronaldinho was subbed off just after the hour mark.

But Ronaldinho, who won Europe’s premier club competition in 2006 with Barcelona, is confident he can add a winner’s medal from South America’s top club tournament to his trophy cabinet.

If he could, he would become just the seventh man to taste success in both the Champions League and Copa Libertadores.

“My debut in football was in a Libertadores match, Gremio against Vasco,” Ronaldinho said.

“Fortunately we (Gremio) won that match. So to me Libertadores is as important as Champions League or La Liga. It is the same importance to me and as a result I will be focused at the same level.”

This season marks the first time Atletico have played in a Copa Libertadores final, and Ronaldinho said the club needs to be challenging for top honours.

“We are putting Atletico back to the place where it belongs, playing Libertadores, winning the regional championship,” he said.

“So we have started a new era and our aim is to keep wining trophies so in the future so one can remember those who started this in the same way it happened in Barcelona.

“I know how big this title is for the club. It’s our first final in history. So lifting that trophy will be my biggest achievement here.”