Portugal football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the world of football. The former Real Madrid star rose to fame during his successful stint with Manchester United in the 2006-07 season. It was Manchester United with which he first enjoyed Champions League triumph.
In the latest interview, CR7 has shed light upon what made Manchester United sign him when he was a relatively ‘nobody’. Notably, Ronaldo used to play for a Portugal club called the Sporting CP and they had to play a match against the mighty Manchester United way back in 2003.
Ronaldo confessed that he was nervous before playing against one of the biggest football clubs in the world. Little did he know then that he would play for them soon after that match.
“It was the first game in the new Sporting stadium. I remember it perfectly as if it were today,” Ronaldo told DAZN, a subscription video streaming service dedicated to Sports.
“I was happy. I was going to play against one of the best teams in the world and the game was spectacular.
“I mentioned to my friends at the Sporting academy that I would play against Manchester and that I was a bit nervous. Nervousness is a part of being a football player in big games,” he added.
Ronaldo continued as he recalled how he was watched by many clubs across the world and hoping for a big break.
“I was motivated, I was happy and I knew that if I played well it would generate even more interest, not only from Manchester [United] but from other clubs as well because I was being watched.
“I felt that many teams came to watch me and of course watch Sporting too. The game went really well for me.
“I try to take all the big challenges as a big test. Not anymore, but when I was younger, it was always a big challenge. Obviously, with maturity, you’re able to control your emotions but I knew it was an important step in my career.
“There were a lot of clubs interested in me at the time. I always had my feet on the ground and I knew that my future would be in football, that I would be a professional footballer and my life would be around football.
“I was taking it step by step. This time it was about playing, enjoying the game, playing against Manchester [United], a great team, doing my best, trying to play an excellent game and obviously, things went well,” the football veteran said.
Soon after that match, Sir Alex Ferguson managed to bring in a young Ronaldo to the United.
“It was just after the game,” he revealed.
“I remember that the game was over. There was a Sporting director who called me over and said that Ferguson wanted to talk to me,” he added.
And the rest, as they say, is history as Ronaldo went on to dominate the world of football for the next decade-and-a-half. Post Manchester United, Ronaldo went to Real Madrid in 2009 for a then record-shattering transfer. He then switched to his current side Juventus in 2018.