August 6, 2003. Manchester United, one of the leading clubs in world football, landed in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. The Manchester players were invited by Sporting Lisbon, the main club in Portugal, to participate in a friendly match. It was the opening match of the renovated Estadio Yose Alvalade stadium in Lisbon.
Premier League champions Manchester United arrived in Lisbon on their way back from a three-week American tour. A little friendly competition that shouldn't be given much importance. An easy win — that was what the players had in mind. Just before parting ways with the final training session at the Alwaleed Stadium, coach Alex Ferguson made a casual mention to his Manchester players of a young Sporting Lisbon winger. Barely eighteen years old. Sounds like a great performance. Pay attention .
No matter how talented the lad is, what is he against Manchester United, who have the best players in the world? Moreover, none of the stars have heard of such a winger before. That is why no one took that insignificant instruction of the coach seriously. The next day, Manchester United and Sporting Lisbon went head-to-head in front of a packed gallery.
Within minutes of the game, a lanky lad wearing Sporting's number 28 jersey began to advance with the ball, picking off Manchester's world-class players one by one. Whenever he got possession of the ball, he was showing something new in front of the spectators by using various tricks.
All the attention of the Manchester team was on him. Exceptional speed and dribbling skills. Along with taking the game forward, he also showcases his skills to the fullest wherever possible. The Manchester players thought that this must be the eighteen-year-old mentioned by the coach.
Everything that happened after that was history. The defending Premier League champions were single-handedly torn apart by the youngster, whose name they hadn't even heard of until then. Playing in the right-back position, Irishman John O'Shea and Mark Lynch struggled to keep up with him. Expecting a boring friendly match, the teammates on the bench watched the boy's game with great enthusiasm.
A picture of Cristiano when he was playing for Sporting Lisbon
They said to each other that they were amazed that they had never seen anyone else hit the ball with such speed. He had the ball under his control for most of those 90 minutes. If this was the case on this not-so-good ground, Ferguson realized that he would do wonders on a better ground. He made up his mind that the Manchester gang would not leave Lisbon without this eighteen-year-old.
After Manchester United lost 3 goals to 1, all the players of the team approached Coach Ferguson for that opponent. They wanted to bring this talent to Old Trafford at any cost. They were sure that if it was too late, other major clubs would come to poach him.
Five Ballon d'Or, four European Golden Boots, 32 titles including seven league titles and five UEFA Champions League victories, more than 1,100 professional appearances, more than 780 senior career goals for club and Portugal national team, the most goals in men's world football history — all of which are among the Cristiano Ronaldo who is considered as one of the stars. A football legend with fans all over the world. The story of Cristiano's rise to the top of the sports world must have been heard with excitement.
Cristiano with the Ballon d'Or awards
Cristiano was born and raised in Funchal in the Portuguese Madeira archipelago. His father, Yose Diniz Aviero, was a municipal gardener and a kitman at a football club called Andorra. Mother Maria Dolores worked as a cook. The working family lived against starvation with four children including Cristiano. Cristiano was born in February 1985, during the second term of Ronald Reagan as President of the United States. Aviero, who adored Reagan, named his son Ronaldo. Cristiano started training in football clubs from the age of seven.
Cristiano's first club was the Andorran club, where his father worked as a kitman. Little Cristiano also played for the Nacional club for two years. At the age of twelve, Cristiano signed a contract with Sporting Lisbon. The reward was 1500 pounds . Cristiano also moved to Lisbon to join Sporting's youth academy.
Cristiano with his parents
Cristiano was not interested in pursuing education and football together. Cristiano wanted to give up formal education and turn his full attention to football. Once expelled from school for a fight with his teacher, he began devoting himself to football full-time. Cristiano was following a very strict training.
Practiced dribbling with weights on both feet, weight lifting exercises added to speed and strength on the field. At the age of sixteen, Cristiano earned a place in Sporting's youth team. Cristiano slowly started to gain fame by continuously scoring crucial goals in the Premier League of Portuguese clubs.
The competition with Manchester United took place at a time when clubs in the country began to pay attention to the youngster and Ferguson chose Cristiano for the club. With that, the whole world started to know the name Cristiano Ronaldo. The gallery welcomed Cristiano who started playing in Manchester's number 7 jersey in the next Premier League season with cheers.
The 2004 FA Cup was Cristiano's first trophy in his career. Experts hailed the FA Cup final as the rise of a world-class footballer. Playing for Manchester United, Cristiano left the club in 2009, winning many titles and accolades such as the Football League Cup, Premier League title, Golden Boot, Footballer of the Year, FIFA World Player and Ballon d'Or. By that time, Cristiano had grown into a star footballer with a huge fan base all over the world.
Cristiano's on-field showmanship is what sets him apart then and now. More than being an athlete, fans love Cristiano who becomes a performer on the field. Cristiano started as a winger but gradually filled the field as a striker and a midfielder. Cristiano is considered as a talent who can play from both sides, can easily be positioned in the center, and can move both feet at the same speed and shake the net.
Another factor is the ability to drive crosses into the penalty area and use speed to keep opponents at bay. Even critics have described Cristiano as one of the fastest footballers in the world. Heading tactics that rival Cristiano Ronaldo are rare among other footballers. Cristiano has many beautiful aerial goals and header goals in international football .
Cristiano's dribbling techniques and tricks were noticed right from the early stages of his career. Trademark moves are step overs and chops. As he takes free kicks and penalty kicks, realizing that the full attention of the gallery and cameras is on him, Cristiano relishes it and prances around with the physique of a performer.
Cristiano, who retired from Manchester, started wearing boots for Real Madrid from the 2009-2010 season. Madrid won the Spanish Supercup and the Champions League title and the La Liga title, which had been elusive for four years. Some of Cristiano's best performances in individual and club competitions have come during his career at Real Madrid.
Four Champions League trophies, two La Liga titles, two Copa del Rey trophies, three Club World Cups, three UEFA Super Cups and two Spanish Super Cups – the list of achievements Cristiano on. Cristiano Ronaldo's average goal rate in Real's matches is 1.03. Cristiano is also the player who has scored the most goals in the history of Real Madrid.
Among these are some of the most beautiful goals that not only Cristiano fans, but all football lovers will remember forever. One of them was Cristiano's backheel goal in the 2011–12 La Liga season against Rayo Vallecano in the 54th minute. Also worth mentioning is his incredible header in a Champions League match against his former club Manchester United and his knuckleball hat-trick against Atletico Madrid in 2011-12.
The bicycle kick goal in the match against Juventus in 2018 is considered to be the best goal not only in Cristiano's Real career, but also in his football life. It can be said that Cristiano started growing from the title of the best footballer to the reputation of Greatest Of All Times when he was on the field for Real.
Picture of Cristiano's bicycle kick goal against Juventus in 2018
El Clasico matches between Cristiano's Real and Lionel Messi's Barcelona are exciting moments for football fans. Although the two have competed against each other numerous times for club matches and national team matches, El Clasico games have their own special fan base. Messi has tasted victory more times in the matches where the two have faced each other.
In 2018, Cristiano left Real Madrid and joined Juventus. After playing for Juventus for three years, the star has returned to his old home Manchester United in 2021.
September 11, 2021 was Cristiano's return to Manchester after 12 years. Cristiano Ronaldo was in the number 7 jersey in the Manchester United team that took the field against Newcastle in the Premier League match.
Fans flocked to Old Trafford to witness the 'homecoming' match of the beloved star. The whole football world had their eyes on that stadium that day. The gallery was full of people who expected the same performance and wonderful goals from 12 years ago from Cristiano, who is coming to the field for Manchester after a long break. In the first league match after returning to the team, the pressure on Cristiano was so terrible. The pressure is unimaginable not to give the fans and the Manchester team at least one goal to celebrate.
However, excessive expectations and pressures could not weaken Cristiano. In the first half of the match, Cristiano shook the net of the opposing team. Cheers for Cristiano filled the stadium. Newcastle hit back within minutes and scored another goal, but Cristiano's second goal at the next invitation broke the Newcastle net. Manchester United beat Newcastle by four goals against one. It was a match that marked the return of Cristiano Ronaldo.
Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after scoring against Newcastle
Before making his debut at Manchester United in 2003, Cristiano was included in the Portugal Under-15 national team. Cristiano has also been a member of the Portugal senior team since 2003. Cristiano was only 22 years old when he took the field as the captain of the Portugal national team for the first time . Cristiano has led Portugal in many competitions including World Cups. Cristiano also currently holds the record for most international goals scored.
Cristiano, who has star value off the pitch, also tries to market it right. Cristiano Ronaldo is the first football player to earn a billion dollars. CR7 is a fashion brand that offers designer clothes, shoes and perfumes. A portion of the proceeds is also earmarked for charity. However, many times accusations of tax evasion and allegations of sexual assault have been raised against Cristiano. Cristiano's lawyers confirmed that they tried to influence the complainant to not release information related to the sexual assault complaint by paying huge sums of money, which led to great controversy.
Cristiano with his brand's product
Cristiano Ronaldo, who grew up from a basic Catholic family in Funchal to become one of the richest men in the world and one of the greatest athletes the world has ever seen, is still climbing the ladder of his career at the age of thirty-five.
Wearing the number 7 jersey, with a smile that confirms that he is entitled to the cheers and noises for CR 7, shouting at every step that he was born to be a winner, and answering the question of who is the best footballer in the world without an iota of doubt or humility, it is me, Cristiano Ronaldo is conquering the peaks of world football one by one.
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