Cristiano Ronaldo Did Something Spectacular During First Training With Manchester United

Cristiano Ronaldo did something spectacular during his very first training session with Manchester United that convinced everybody that he’ll be a future superstar.

Ronaldo’s rise to stardom didn’t come in an instant. In fact, it took him a few years before he finally established himself as the legendary player he is today. However, during Ronaldo’s very first training session with Manchester United, the young Portuguese had already given them a hint that he is destined to be an icon of the sport.

Ronaldo joined Man United in 2003. He was only 18 years old at the time, but at some point, the young Ronaldo already made noise after an impressive display of talent in a friendly against a couple of first-teams for Sporting Lisbon.

Eddie Johnson, a youth player at the club at the time, vividly recalls how Ronaldo’s first day at training went down. Speaking on one of the newest episodes of "The Broken Metatarsal," Johnson looked back at the day he first met the man who will soon be known as “CR7.”

“I know he’d given some of the first team a hard time in the friendly just before he signed and people were talking about him,” Johnson said.

Johnson admitted that he had no idea who the young Ronaldo was until somebody confirmed to him that it was him. The team went on to train and what Ronaldo did next has stunned Johnson.

“I was still quite young, but I was training with the first team and we did the 5 v 2 warm-up like we did every day, and he (Ronaldo) did the most audacious bit of skill and put it through the legs of one of the other young lads,” Johnson recalled.

“He’d confused him that much that he’d crossed his feet together and ended up landing flat on his face. Everyone was looking round going ‘there’s a player here’ so from that day on it was pretty exciting,” he added.

From that day forward, Ronaldo became a notable player but has failed to reach double figures in each of his first three Premier League seasons. He was often accused of lacking an end product in those early days. However, with the help of Sir Alex Ferguson, Ronaldo reached his full potential and became the face of soccer.

Johnson then stated that nobody expected that Ronaldo would change the name of the game but he was always exciting to watch,

“No one actually thought he’d get to the heights he’s got to now,” Johnson said.

“Ronaldo just enjoyed the show side of it to start with, and I don’t think anyone thought he’d go on to achieve what he’s achieved now,” Johnson continued.