English Striker Still Laughs About Beating Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester United

An English striker admitted that he still celebrates beating Cristiano Ronaldo and Manchester United every now and then.

During his time with Manchester United, Ronaldo became one of the most prolific goal scorers in the world. His father-and-son type of relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson significantly contributed to his development as an overall athlete. But just like any other star players, Ronaldo also suffered devastating defeats.

In a recent interview with Echo News UK, former Southend United striker James Lawson admitted that he is still reminded of his role in beating Man United and Ronaldo on a daily basis.

When Southend United faced Manchester United at Roots Hall back in 2006, Lawson came off the bench in the second half to help the Blues beat the talent-stacked Red Devils side. Southend defeated Man United but even to this day, Lawson and his friends still cherish the winning moment.

According to Lawson, he and his friends would still laugh everytime they reminisce about the day he went face to face with the Portuguese icon.

“My mates bring it up every day, even now,” laughed Lawson.

“At the time Ronaldo was one of the most hated figures in the country because it wasn’t long after the World Cup when he got Wayne Rooney sent off,” Lawson added.

The 33-year-old also recalled how people booed Ronaldo during the said game. Even though Lawson takes pride for beating the Man United star, he still thinks fans didn’t know how great Ronaldo was at the time.

“I remember him getting booed but when we played him I don’t think anyone realized just how good he was back then,” Lawson recalled.

Paulo Ferreira was another player who recently looked back at the time he stopped Ronaldo and Manchester United. What’s even more interesting was that Ferreira was one of Ronaldo’s co-stars in international side, the pair developed a good relationship in and outside the pitch. However, during the 2007 FA Cup final, Ferreira was handed one of the hardest tasks in his career. He was assigned to try and shackle Ronaldo.

The 41-year-old revealed that he and his teammate Claude Makelele managed to dictate Ronaldo’s pacing by creating a “two versus one” scenarios instead of risking the game by battling the extremely talented Portuguese.

“The strategy was to stop Cristiano because he was the player who could create dangerous situations, so we knew if we could block him we could stop most of their threats. He could beat players and score goals, so the key was for Maka to come and help me so we could create a two-versus-one situation, rather than leaving me one-on-one against him,” Ferreira revealed.