Cristiano Ronaldo: Former Manchester United star John O’Shea reveals the truth about facing Portuguese star
Sunderland captain sets the record straight about infamous night against Sporting Lisbon
JOHN O’SHEA has revealed what really happened the night he came face-to-face with a teenage Cristiano Ronaldo as the Portuguese star earned a move to Manchester United.
The performance produced by Ron earned him a £12million move to Old Trafford back in 2004 after impressing Sir Alex Ferguson.
In his autobiography, Fergie recalled: "The first pass Ronaldo took prompted me to howl: 'For Christ's sake, John, get tight to him.
Keep up to date with ALL the Manchester United news, gossip, transfers and goals on our club page plus fixtures, results and live match commentary
"John shrugged his shoulders. A look of plain bewilderment was creeping across his face. The other players in the dugout were saying; 'Bloody hell, boss, he's some player him.'
"I said, 'It's all right. I've got him sorted,' as if the deal had been done ten years ago. I told Albert, our kit man: 'Get up to that directors' box and get (Peter) Kenyon (the United chief executive) down at half-time.'
related stories
"I told Peter, 'We're not leaving this ground until we've got that boy signed.'
“Is he that good?' Kenyon asked.
"John O'Shea's ended up with a migraine!" I said. "Get him signed.
Ronaldo won three Premier League titles and the Champions League during his time in Manchester before his blockbuster £80m move to Madrid in 2009.
O’Shea has also departed Old Trafford now, captaining Sunderland, but the night he faced Ronaldo is still fresh in his head.
The 35-year-old told : “We flew back from a tour of America and straight to Lisbon with severe jet-lag.
“Normally everyone wants to play games, but on this occasion everybody had had a terrible nights' sleep before the game, waking up at two, three, four in the morning wide awake and not able to get back to sleep.
“So everyone was not, shall we say, in 'peak' condition for the game. Some boys were delighted when the boss announced the team and they weren't starting!”
“Now in some books written by former colleagues, there have been some highly exaggerated stories, and believe it or not, about how much 'Ronnie' went past me time after time, and ripped me apart.
“My version would be different, but he did have an excellent game.
“At one stage, I remember looking at the dugout when the ball had gone out for a throw-in and some of the lads on the bench were having a good laugh, thinking that's the last thing you need when jet-lagged - a young lad wanting to run at you time and time again, going left, going right, twisting turning, shooting every time he got within distance of the goal.
“But in a roundabout way, I take it as a compliment that the boss wanted to sign Ronaldo so quickly after the game, because of how he had performed against me that night.
“He wanted him to join straight away rather than staying on loan at Sporting Lisbon for another year to develop.
“I believe the deal was in place for Ronaldo to stay in Lisbon and then come to Manchester the following season, but after his display of skill and maturity on the night, the boss made sure we didn't leave Lisbon without him, he was ready.
“He [Ronaldo] didn't turn out a bad player did he?" O'Shea said. "He has scored a few goals and won some trophies.
"He is the best player in the world now, along with another fella from Argentina."