FOLLOW THIS, LEO
Soon, the world's most relentless footballer will finally be able to call himself No.1. This is the story of how Cristiano Ronaldo moved to the brink of becoming the greatest international goalscorer of all time - by those who know him best
ark had fallen on a late summer’s evening in the far north of Portugal, just a few miles from the Spanish border. Only 8,000 people were inside the Estadio Municipal Engenheiro Manuel Branco Teixeira in Chaves. They were about to witness the beginning of greatness.
In one of Portuguese football’s least celebrated outposts, the national team were labouring badly in a friendly at home to Kazakhstan. A year earlier, their 2002 World Cup campaign had ended in disgrace with an exit in the group stage via defeat to co- hosts South Korea, a match that Portugal finished with nine men. The forward, Joao Pinto, had even punched the referee. Afterwards, the would- be Euro 2004 hosts kicked off a series of meaningless friendlies in front of ever- dwindling attendances. Kazakhstan were the latest visitors.
At half- time, the score was an unimpressive 0- 0. Then came a substitution. Off went Luis Figo, and on came an 18- year- old Cristiano Ronaldo for his international debut. “Stay calm,” Figo told the teenager. “Just play as if you were at your club.”
So Ronaldo did. Within two minutes, the spectators gawped as their fresh- faced winger intercepted a loose pass, dribbled half the length of the field and saw his shot tipped past a post. Three minutes later, he spun his marker and surged towards the penalty area once again. “Ro- nal- do! Ro- nal- do!” came the chant. He’d been a Portugal international for just five minutes. By full- time, his country had won 1- 0 and Ronaldo was named the man of the match. The man – the boy – who would go on to become the greatest footballer in Portugal’s history, had made his entrance.
“He already had his sights on becoming great,” explains Fernando Meira, who was part of the Portugal team that evening. “He wanted to be the fastest, the strongest, the top scorer. He wanted to be the best at everything.”
In the 17 years that have followed, Ronaldo has become just that, for both club and country. A five- time Ballon d’or winner; a five- time – and record – Champions League winner; a national hero, thanks to
Portugal’s victory at Euro 2016; the top scorer in Champions League history... and soon, the top scorer in international football history.
At that level, he has left a pantheon of legends trailing in his wake. Lionel Messi, Diego Maradona, the Brazilian Ronaldo, even the great Pele – none have scored as many goals for their country as CR7. As he closes in on 109 international goals, possibly the greatest milestone of them all is now within touching distance.
“Records are part of me,” Cristiano Ronaldo once claimed. “I don’t follow the records. The records follow me.”
“QUARESMA? NO, THE ONE WHO’LL SUCCEED IS THE BO Y FROM MADEIRA. HE’S MORE PROFESSIONAL THAN THE PROFESSIONALS ”
Even before he reached Portugal’s senior team, Ronaldo seemed destined for the very top. On a Friday night in March 2003, England Under- 21s got a taste of just how good he was, during a European Championship qualifier in Rio Maior. England’s starting XI featured
prospects such as Joe Cole and Jermain Defoe, with Michael Carrick and Gareth Barry in midfield, yet the Three Lions were terrorised – not only by Ronaldo, but by Ricardo Quaresma as well. Portugal won 4- 2 ( despite Shola Ameobi’s brace), and it was the teenage duo’s sublime 90- minute showboat that grabbed attention.
“We didn’t have players like Ronaldo and Quaresma – we struggled to compete,” says David Prutton, who lined up for England that night. “We had been made aware of Ronaldo beforehand, and he lived up to the billing. He was very callow, but he had quick feet and his flashy approach stood out. You remember the cocky kids.
“There was a moment that stuck out. He was on the touchline, and me and a couple of other players had boxed him in. No way out. But I remember him getting out of it, and me not being able to work out how he managed it. In that moment, you knew you were up against something very, very special.”
Portugal qualified for that U21s tournament at England’s expense – a Tuncay- powered Turkey finished top of the pair’s group.
In the summer of 2003, Ronaldo helped Portugal U20s to victory at the Toulon Tournament. Half of Europe sent scouts to watch him play. Having overcome issues with a racing heart that required laser surgery at 15, he had broken into Sporting’s first team in 2002- 03.
Arsenal had been courting him for some time – agent Jorge Mendes arranged for Ronaldo to secretly visit the Gunners’ training ground that January and meet Arsene Wenger. “We were in a car and Jorge kept calling me to reiterate that I had to make sure nobody saw me,” said Ronaldo. “We stopped at a service station and I had to have my face covered. Jorge was calling every five minutes, saying, ‘ Be careful, be careful around people!’”
But Arsenal failed to agree a fee with Sporting. Gerard Houllier also looked at taking him to Liverpool, only to baulk at Mendes’ big salary demands. Barcelona were keen but instead went for Quaresma, who was slightly older and more experienced.
In those early days, some people regarded Quaresma as the better player. “I saw Quaresma in training the other day – he’s going to be phenomenal,” Portugal’s press officer told Aurelio Pereira, Sporting’s chief scout, after an U17s match. “Remember what I’m about to tell you,” replied Pereira. “The one who’ll succeed is the boy from Madeira: Cristiano Ronaldo. He’s a professional. At 16, he’s more professional than the professionals.”
Quaresma’s departure from Sporting coincided with the arrival of a new coach in the summer of 2003: Fernando Santos, the man who would later lead Portugal to victory at Euro 2016. He planned to make Ronaldo the focal point of his new Sporting team – but as it turned out, those plans didn’t last very long.
Another admirer of Ronaldo’s was the Manchester United assistant Carlos Queiroz, who persuaded the Red Devils to set up a partnership with Sporting. As part of the collaboration, United were invited to play in the first game at Sporting’s new stadium, on August 6, 2003. The reigning Premier League champions arrived in Portugal straight from the US, where they had just beaten Juventus and Barcelona. But they were jetlagged, and Ronaldo made them pay.
“I had never heard of him before that game, so I knew absolutely nothing about him,” Quinton Fortune, a member of the team beaten 3- 1 that night, tells FFT. “He was outstanding. I just thought, ‘ Wow’. Luckily I was playing at left- back and John O’shea was at right- back, on Ronaldo’s side. I was just hoping he wouldn’t come over.
“It was stepovers, assists, going past players like they weren’t there – you name it. We were in the changing room afterwards, just looking at each other, going: ‘ What was that?’”
United had already been negotiating to sign Ronaldo, a deal which would have loaned the young wideman back to Sporting for the next 12 months. Before half- time, however, Alex Ferguson had changed his mind. Forget the loan agreement – he wanted Ronaldo in his side immediately. “Get Peter Kenyon down here,” he told the kit man. “We are not leaving this ground until that boy is signed.”
After the match, United’s squad were left waiting on the team bus for more than an hour. Ferguson and Kenyon had gained Sporting’s permission to talk with Ronaldo, and they were sat in a small coaches’ dressing room, convincing him to join them. “We always joked that John O’shea sealed the deal by playing like a f** king clown that night,” Roy Keane later quipped.
Ronaldo’s sale was a blow for Fernando Santos, who was forced to rejig his formation and game plan for the new season. “I was building the team around him,” he sighed. “I hadn’t seen an 18- year- old with such potential in ages.” Sporting would finish a disappointing 3rd that term, and Santos was sacked.
Just 10 days after the friendly at the Estadio Jose Alvalade, Ronaldo made his debut for Manchester United. Despite appearing for only the final half- hour against Bolton, he was named man of the match. Four days later came his senior Portugal debut against Kazakhstan.
“We were all aware of his potential,” says former Everton full- back Nuno Valente, a fellow substitute that night. “When I was at Uniao de Leiria, we had a home game against Sporting and arrived early, so we decided to check out the U19 game. The talk dominating the stands was, ‘ Who is this boy?’ You could see that he stood out.
“Before Ronaldo’s debut against Kazakhstan, I could sense that he was a bit anxious because he wanted to fight for a place at Euro 2004. He had butterflies in his stomach, looking to prove he could become an option for that tournament.”
While there were nerves on the night, Ronaldo was full of confidence when he linked up with the squad. “When new players came into the team, we always had this moment during dinner on our first evening where they had to stand up and speak in front of everyone,” Fernando Meira tells FFT. “He couldn’t stop talking. We had to say, ‘ It’s all right, kid, you can sit down now!’”
As Ronaldo became a regular member of the squad, his team- mates noticed his competitive spirit, too. “He was a sensational table tennis player,” Meira says with a smile. “He told us that when he first arrived at Manchester United, he was mocked and booed by his colleagues because he’d lost a match to Rio Ferdinand. He didn’t play again for months, but in the meantime, he bought a table and trained at home. It’s just a small anecdote that shows what he’s like. He never had to worry about that in the national team, though – he beat everyone...”
According to Maniche, he was the same with card games. “At the beginning, he spent a lot of time with Deco and me, having a laugh,”
“AFTER HE LOST A TABLE TENNIS MATCH TO RIO FERDINAND, HE DIDN’T PLAY AGAIN FOR MONTHS – HE BOUGHT A TABLE AND TRAINED AT HOME”
says the former Chelsea midfielder, a Champions League winner that season with Porto. “No matter how late it was, if he was losing, he’d try to recover his money as much as he could.”
Ronaldo’s first goal for Portugal came in the opening game of Euro 2004, in only his eighth cap. Introduced at half- time with Luiz Felipe Scolari’s men trailing 2- 0 to Greece, the teenager’s injury- time header was nothing more than a consolation. “At first it was Simao starting on the left during that tournament,” says Valente. “But after a while, Ronaldo won. He had a strong personality and was able to impose himself, even though he was just a kid.”
Another Ronaldo header – a carbon copy – against the Netherlands was far more significant, putting Portugal ahead in the semi- final. He would end the tournament in tears, however, as Greece stunned the hosts for a second time in the final.
DART BOARDS AND WITCH DOCTORS
From there, Ronaldo started when available. “He was full of energy – I’ve never seen anyone like him,” Deco told FFT. “He could play three games in a day. He always wanted things more than everyone else.”
Over the years, Ronaldo’s work rate has become legendary. “He’s an easy- going person,” reveals Valente, “but what distinguishes him from others is his mindset and his desire to be the best. He always had that goal. You’d find him in the gym 45 minutes before training because he wanted to improve even more.”
There were times, though, that Ronaldo needed to be encouraged to adapt his game around the team. “When he broke into the squad, sometimes he was a bit too individualistic,” says Valente. “His playing style didn’t always fit our game plan, and we talked a lot about it – we told him there was a right time to pass or dribble.”
The same conversations took place at Manchester United. Ronaldo was given some leeway as he established himself at Old Trafford, but by the third season, patience was wearing thin.
“At the beginning, it was all about embarrassing players, wanting to beat them and show his skills,” says Fortune. “What set Ronaldo apart from all the other young players was that he had so much belief in his own ability, like Muhammad Ali. The first day he walked into the club, his English wasn’t that good but he was basically saying to everyone, ‘ I’m the best’. After training, he’d put ankle weights on, then go and do stepovers on his own so that when he took the weights off… well, you can imagine. Sometimes he had to be pulled out of the gym.
“But it took him a while to appreciate that he had to use his skills to create an end product; to put in a cross or score a goal. Players were
“A FEW TACKLES FLEW IN FROM HIS OWN TEAM- MATES AT TRAINING. EVERYONE HAD A LITTLE BITE. IT GAVE HIM A WAKE- UP CALL THAT HE NEEDED TO PLAY QUICKER”