Cristiano Ronaldo Sent A Clear Message To His Teammates When He First Entered Manchester United Dressing Room

The story of Cristiano Ronaldo's memorable Premier League debut is pretty well known but his introduction to the Manchester United dressing room was arguably even better.

It was a tense affair on August 16th 2003, United held a narrow one-goal advantage against bogey side Bolton with just 29 minutes remaining and Sir Alex Ferguson searched for inspiration.

He looked towards the substitutes bench and a £12.2million midweek arrival from Sporting CP stared back at him. From that day onward, a star was born.

This 18-year-old also made a huge impression on his teammates when he first arrived at Old Trafford.

Ronaldo's former teammate Quinton Fortune detailed the moment CR7 walked into the United dressing room for the first time.

"Ronaldo came with so much confidence, it was unbelievable," he told The Guardian."He walked in the changing room and basically told everyone he's the best. Not in perfect English but you could make it out."

"That set him above all the young players and he could back it up with his work ethic and ability.

"Even at that age, he wanted to be better at everything. If you did something in training he'd practise and come back and do it."

From a gangly teenager with Spaghetti-like string running through his hair, to the almost machine-like centre-forward we hail on a weekly basis at Juventus.

It has been a remarkable journey for the Madeira-born Ronaldo and his first days at United will always stick with the former Real Madrid forward.

"The first game I played against Manchester United was an unbelievable game, the perfect night." Ronaldo reminisced.

"After the game, some of my Sporting team-mates said 'listen, you are going to go to Manchester, trust me. Sir Alex Ferguson is there and wants to speak with you.'

"So I went to the dressing room and he introduced me to the players, which for me was a little bit fun because I was a little shy.

"Alex Ferguson then said to me 'I want you now'. Everything came so fast and two days later I spoke to the coach and they took me to England.

"Then I was in Manchester and I signed."

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Football, Manchester United, Sporting CP, Juventus, Old Trafford, Cristiano Ronaldo

Jack Kenmare

Jack Kenmare is a writer at SPORTbible. He's interviewed some of the biggest names in sport, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pele, Carles Puyol and Tim Henman. He dabbles in all things sport but football is his biggest passion. He was once hit in the head by a wayward strike from Nicky Butt and lived to tell the tale.

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