Ronaldinho happy

Ronaldinho scored 70 goals in 145 appearances for Barcelona, helping them win the Spanish championship in 2005 and 2006 as well as the 2006 Champions League.

But after a dip in form last season, attributed by some to his penchant for late-night partying, he was deemed surplus to requirements by the Spanish giants and AC Milan signed him last week for an estimated 30 million dollars.

Olympic coach Dunga, who is also coach of the national team, said the two-time World Player of the Year finally seemed happy.

"Ronaldinho is a very important member of our squad and he is recovering from his problems," he said here, where Brazil are training ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

"The most important thing is that he is happy and is smiling again.

That's made things easier for us.

The 28-year-old is one Dunga's over-age players for the Olympics.

Barcelona had initially refused to release him but AC Milan gave the go-ahead and the Games will provide a global platform for him to once again shine.

At international level he has yet to recover from his anti-climactic performance at the World Cup in Germany in 2006, and since then he has seen new Milan teammate Kaka usurp his position as Brazil's star man.

But 26-year-old Kaka, linked with a move to Chelsea this week, will not be in Beijing after the Italian club refused to release him.

Brazil captured the Olympic silver medal in the 1984 and 1988 Olympics, and the bronze medal in the 1996 Games, but has yet to strike gold.

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