Ronaldo’s lucky number seven
THIS WEEKEND SEES the return of Cristiano 5onaldo to the Premier League as he makes his second debut for 0anchester 8nited.
Having originally cut his teeth and forged his game and reputation under the watchful eye of Sir Ale Ferguson between - 9, 5onaldo returns a globally recognised brand, the most popular social media celebrity alive with over million followers.
The cult of numbers may be meaningless to some but the number seven component of 5onaldo’s brand C5 carries huge significance to its owner and has very pivotal historical relevance.
The number seven jersey at 0anchester 8nited has a rich history of almost mythical status that has been worn by some of the club’s most iconographic and iconoclastic players.
George Best was the first to imbue legend on the shirt, partly due to his reputation as a genius maverick of a player, partly because he wore the shirt when 8nited won their first European Cup against Benfica in 19 . Either way, it set off a trend of great players adorning the jersey.
Not long after Best came ‘Captain 0arvel’ Bryan 5obson who wore the shirt with distinction for 1 years between 19 1-199 before handing it over to arguably the club’s biggest icon of recent years Eric Cantona.
‘The King’, as he is still affectionately known, rewrote the script and helped propel the club to unprecedented heights during a five year spell at the inception of the Premier League.
Ne t came ‘Goldenballs’ himself, David Beckham. Legends in sport don’t get much bigger and Beckham’s status speaks for itself.
It was after Beckham departed for 5eal 0adrid in
that 5onaldo adopted the shirt and created his own legend amongst a list of giants in the game.
Despite the number seven already allocated to Edinson Cavani, the 8ruguyan handed the jersey back to his new teammate when it was confirmed the Portuguese was rejoining 8nited.
The are millions around the world who await with baited breath to see what history and legend 5onaldo writes ne t now he and his favourite number are once again reunited at 8nited. It starts tomorrow (Sept 11) against Newcastle 8nited (kick-off 9pm Phuket time).