He made no impact at the World Cup in 2006, looking stale and lethargic while Brazil limped out of the tournament after a defeat by France in the quarter-finals.
The following season Barca surrendered their league title to Real Madrid and, although he weighed in with 23 goals in all competitions, he was increasingly criticised for an apparent lack of commitment and a loss of form and fitness.
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He came under particularly heavy fire when photographs taken after one match showed him with a distinctly unathletic roll of fat hanging over the waistband of his shorts.
Ronaldinho asked to be rested from the 2007 Copa America so he missed Brazil's triumph but still failed to recover his form.
There were reports of a dressing room rift with striker Samuel Eto'o, while the emergence of Argentine prodigy Lionel Messi and new kids on the block Bojan Krkic and Giovani dos Santos meant the Brazilian no longer seemed indispensable.
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