A certain Cristiano Ronaldo netted his first goal for Manchester United in a 3-0 victory over Portsmouth, the start of an incredible Old Trafford career.
United forked out £12.24million to acquire the services of Ronaldo from Sporting Lisbon in 2003, making him the first Portuguese player to pull on the famous red colours and, at the time, the most expensive teenager in English football history.
There was huge pressure on the forward’s shoulders to produce the goods and he certainly didn’t disappoint as he became one of the Red Devils’ greatest players of all time during his six-year spell.
It all seems quite fitting that the 34-year-old opened his account at the Theatre of Dreams in that 3-0 win over Portsmouth, who would be sick of the sight of the Portugal international throughout his time in England.
With United leading 1-0, Sir Alex Ferguson made the decision to bring on both Ronaldo and Roy Keane in the 76th minute, replacing goalscorer Diego Forlan and Eric Djemba-Djemba respectively.
Awarded a free-kick close to the left corner of the box on the 80th minute, Ronaldo whipped in a fizzing delivery that evaded everyone and ended up in the back of the net, the first of six goals he scored from 11 league games against Pompey.
Fellow substitute Keane wrapped up the three points just two minutes later, handing United a comfortable 3-0 win in the end. However, there would be no title for the English giants that season as they ended up third.
During Ronaldo’s time at United, he managed to win three Premier League titles, the 2004 FA Cup, two League Cups, the 2007 Community Shield, the 2008 Champions League and the FIFA Club World Cup.
The first of the Portuguese’s five Ballon d’Or’s came in 2008, making him one of just four players to receive the accolade when playing for the Old Trafford outfit, while he was named Premier League Player of the Season twice and won the Golden Boot in the 2007/08 campaign.
Ronaldo scored 118 goals from 292 appearances in all competitions before Real Madrid spent a then world-record transfer fee of £80m to acquire his services in the summer of 2009.
The forward won 15 major trophies with Los Blancos before making the switch to Juventus in July 2018, clinching Serie A and Supercoppa Italiana glory in his debut season.
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