ristiano Ronaldo took
a deep breath, steadied
himself, then fired the
free kick towards goal.
He was 25 yards out, but
his low effort arrowed
past Shay Given into the
net. His 118th and final
goal for Manchester United had
arrived at home to Manchester
City to all but seal a third straight
Premier League title for
the Red Devils.
The reigning European
champions had also
just reached a second
successive Champions
League final courtesy
of Ronaldo’s blistering
Emirates brace against
Arsenal five days earlier. City were trudging
to 10th place in the top flight – they’d not
finished above their rivals for 18 years, going
back to 1991. They’d never even been close.
United’s dominance was total, and CR7
was officially the planet’s best footballer –
the only person ever to win the FIFA World
Player of the Year award while plying his
trade on English soil. “I’m the first, second
and third best player in the world,” he
declared back then, with typical modesty.
He’s won the award four more times since,
on the way to four more Champions League
titles, and 551 goals in 572 games for Real
Madrid and Juventus.
During 12 years away from Old Trafford,
though, the balance of power has shifted,
almost definitively. Since Sir Alex Ferguson’s
retirement in 2013, United have finished
below City for eight consecutive seasons. Had
Ronaldo moved to the Etihad last summer,
the humiliation would have been complete.
Instead, the Portuguese followed his
heart and diverted to Old Trafford in a bid to
bring back the glory days. City thought they
were gaining a striker – instead they have
gained an enemy more powerful and
determined than anything they’ve faced in
Manchester for some time. Ronaldo has
returned... and he wants his title back.
MOVE OVER, OLE
Had Ferguson not intervened back in 2006,
Ronaldo might never have won a Premier
League title at all. The 21 year old had
decided to leave Old Trafford that summer,
before his manager travelled to Vale do Lobo
on the Algarve for a monumental meeting.
“You’re one of the bravest players to come
to Manchester United – walking away isn’t
courage,” Ferguson told his young charge.
It was Ferguson who’d decided Ronaldo
should have the No.7 shirt when he arrived
at United – the Portuguese prodigy asked
for 28, the jersey he wore at Sporting, but
CR7 quickly dazzled in his new number. “He
almost retired me,” Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
joked recently, recalling how they’d played
on opposite wings when Ronaldo made his
first start for the club at home to Wolves in
August 2003. The teenager’s tendency to
swap flanks mid-match meant Solskjaer had
to keep doing the same, putting extra strain
on a knee problem he’d been struggling with.
The Norwegian missed most of the next two
years through injury and was never quite the
same player again.
Despite his obvious talent, Ronaldo’s first
three years at United delivered no league
titles. The Red Devils didn’t progress beyond
the last 16 of the Champions League, even
crashing out in the group stage in 2005–06
after defeat against Benfica, when Ronaldoearned a ban for directing a middle-finger
gesture at heckling home fans ‘welcoming’
the winger back to Lisbon.
His relationship with Ruud van Nistelrooy
had also been difficult – the Dutchman grew
frustrated at the wideman’s lack of service,
leading to a row where Ronaldo was told to
go and talk to ‘his dad’, a jibe intended to
reference his close relationship with United
assistant Carlos Queiroz. Ronaldo burst into
tears, telling Van Nistelrooy he didn’t have
a dad – his father had died months earlier.Above The stars
aligned for CR7 and
United last summerTHE
STORY OF
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