Man United didn’t really expect that big of a challenge when they travelled to face Sporting Lisbon in a pre-season friendly game in 2003, but fortunately helped Sir Alex Ferguson discover a gem.
Cristiano Ronaldo put in an absolutely outstanding display, leaving United’s defenders all over the place. John O’Shea was responsible for marking him, but was left gasping for air at half time.
Rio Ferdinand spoke about how the whole ordeal went down while playing FIFA 20 as part of the ‘Stay Home. Play Together’ campaign by EA Sports and COPA 90.
“We played against Sporting in 2003, we get in at half-time and John O'Shea must've needed an oxygen tank next to him,” said the defender as quoted by SportBible.
“He was in bits and he was sitting there panting. We were telling him to get closer to Ronaldo and he couldn't even answer us.
“To be fair, me, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt were standing there going 'this kid's unbelievable, we've got to sign him'.
“We got on the coach and we were delayed for about an hour and a half, and then they said they were doing a deal to sign Ronaldo now.”
While O’Shea was unfortunately at the wrong end of a Ronaldo masterclass on that day, the performance convinced Sir Alex Ferguson to immediately sign him and brand him as United’s future.
The Portuguese went onto have a decorated career at Old Trafford, scoring 118 goals in 292 appearances for the Red Devils and also winning his inaugural Ballon d’Or title with Sir Alex’s guidance.
