In life, sometimes you have a moment that change your life forever. For Cristiano Ronaldo, that moment was when he played as a Sporting Lisbon player against Manchester United on a friendly match on August 6, 2003. Sporting beat United 3-1.
"I was the coach at that time, when he played against Manchester United. And I regretted that he played. It was only a week after I lost Quaresma to Barcelona, and two days after the match I lost Ronaldo to Manchester United", said Fernando Santos.
Seven minutes before kick-off, a senior Sporting player approached Ronaldo.
"Cristiano, if you play well they might buy you", he said.
"Are you kidding? No way, I'm only 17", said Ronaldo.
Despite saying that, Ronaldo determined to play all out to impress MU manager Sir Alex Ferguson. There was a talk between United and Sporting about Ronaldo transfer before the match. So the match was arena for Ronaldo to show his skills.
He entered the pitch with fast heartbeat, since his opponent is Manchester United, one of greatest club in Europe he was about to join. He was a bit nervous to face big names like Fabien Barthez, Ryan Giggs, Rio Ferdinand, Ruud van Nistelrooy, etc.
Ronaldo played aggressively that day, he wore jersey with number 28 on his back. He knew that he had not much opportunities to show his skills so he used every chances he got. He showed off his Brazilian-like skills and stunned everyone.
This was how Gary Neville reacted with Ronaldo's performance that day, as quoted from The Independent.
Gary Neville was at home, on the sofa, in the summer of 2003 when he witnessed it. He'd not travelled to Lisbon for the friendly between Manchester United and Sporting Lisbon which commemorated the inauguration of the Alvalade XXI Stadium, so for him it was his club's in-house TV station which provided the view of the run by the left-winger wearing the No 28 on his back. Within minutes of the game's conclusion, Neville was texting his brother Phil, in the sanctuary of the United dressing room, about Cristiano Ronaldo.
"It was in the first half when he made the run, inside John O'Shea," Neville recalls. "And I thought 'bloody hell'. When you're watching a player who you would usually play against, you look much more closely and it's very rare to see that level of movement and speed. Only a few people are capable of timing a run like that, inside the full-back and centre back – and the speed of it."
Ronaldo didn't score a goal nor an assist at that match, but he was undoubtedly the man of the match.
After the match Fergie left the pitch but didn't immediately go to MU dressing room. He was waiting for someone; Jorge Mendes, the super agent. Mendes then showed up, with Ronaldo, the wonder kid. Mendes acted as a translator for Ronaldo and Ferguson. The meeting was brief, then MU flew back to England.
"Are we going to get him?", asked Rio Ferdinand and Nicky Butt to Ferguson.
"I remember that everyone waited for the coach and wandering "what are we waiting for?", said Ryan Giggs.
Everyone in MU dressing room was talking about Ronaldo.
MU was indeed in the need of new player to replace David Beckham who went to Real Madrid. Two days later MU bought the 18-year-old boy for 12.8 million Pounds. Ronaldo immediately flew to Manchester to sign documents, he went there without his stuffs because he heard that MU would lend him back to Sporting for a year.
"That was my first time traveling by airplane", said Ronaldo.
But Ferguson had different idea, he planned to use Ronaldo right away.
"No problem. Tomorrow you will train here and then you will go to Portugal to get your things", said Ferguson.
Eight days later Ronaldo was playing with Manchester United against Bolton Wanderers in front of 67,000 people at Old Trafford with number 7 on his back. The legend of CR7 started that day. And the rest is history.
You can watch the match between United and Sporting on video below.
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