Ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo’s return to Sporting Lisbon, captain John O’Shea recalls the first time he came face to face with a player who would soon take the footballing world by storm.
6 August 2003 marks a key date in the esteemed career of Cristiano Ronaldo, and on Tuesday the three-time Ballon d'Or winner’s story will come full circle.
It all started with a pre-season friendly as Manchester United travelled to Sporting Lisbon where Ronaldo lined up against his future club, and a future Black Cat.
90 minutes later, Sir Alex Ferguson refused to leave town without the Portuguese youngster as a whirlwind sequence of events was set in motion to seal his move to Old Trafford.
The story has been told on more than one occasion – Sir Alex and former boss Roy Keane both highlighting it in their respective biographies– and in each and every one John O’Shea has been at its core.
16 years on, the former United defender has finally had his say as Ronaldo prepares to return to the Estadio Jose Alvalade for the first time since that fateful night.
“We flew back from a tour of America and straight to Lisbon with severe jet lag – normally everyone wants to play but on this occasion we had barely slept – so everyone wasn’t in ‘peak’ condition, shall we say.
“Some of the boys were delighted when the boss announced the team and they weren’t starting, but I was in the line-up at right-back and just before the game kicked off I looked up to see a young Ronaldo staring at me, completely focussed and raring to go.
“Now in some books written by former colleagues there has been highly-exaggerated stories,” continued O’Shea with a big grin on his face. “Believe it or not, they tell a story of how ‘Ronnie’ went past me time after time and ripped me apart.
“My version would be a little different but he did have an excellent game, and at one stage I remember looking at the dugout and some of the lads on the bench were having a good laugh, thinking that's the last thing you need when jet lagged!
“In a roundabout way I take it as a compliment that the boss wanted to sign him so quickly after the game – I believe a deal was in place for the following year but after his display the boss made sure we didn’t leave Sporting without him – and he didn’t turn out a bad player did he.
“He’s scored a few goals and won some trophies, and he’s the best player in the world alongside another fella from Argentina.”
