Sportsmail's Ian Ladyman was covering Manchester United when Cristiano Ronaldo was first signed in August 2003.
Ronaldo, back at United after over a decade away, is set to make his second debut for the club against Newcastle this weekend, and anticipation is high.
So here, we recall the night the teenager bamboozled United in a friendly for Sporting Lisbon - and his debut for the Old Trafford club nine days later.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Manchester United's future changed forever in the space of nine days
The lasting memory of that hot night in Lisbon was of the white boots adorning those quick, dancing feet. Though a look back at the video now reveals them actually to have been silver. Knowing what we know now about Cristiano Ronaldo, we should not be surprised.
Manchester United were in Portugal in August 2003 on their way home from a pre-season tour of America’s west coast. They had agreed to play a game to mark the opening of Sporting’s new stadium. The players, jetlagged after three weeks on the road, did not want to be there.
As it turned out, nobody who was present will ever forget it.
Ronaldo bamboozled United in August 2003 and then made his debut just over a week later
It’s easy to say 18 years on that you remember Ronaldo and what he did that night. But it’s true. Everybody does.
Pre-season matches are almost never memorable but this one was. Tall, athletic and asked to remove his earrings before kick-off, Ronaldo was impossible to ignore.
United and Sir Alex Ferguson knew all about the 18-year-old. Unbeknown to the travelling English media - three of us in all from newspapers - an agreement was already in place to sign him two years down the line.
Nobody else had ever heard of Ronaldo. Not the United players, nor anybody in the press box. At that point, he had not even played for Portugal.
United's jetlagged players struggled to deal with Ronaldo, who impressed with dancing feet
That night he was the best player on the field. Ronaldo played as though auditioning. In those boots, his feet looked huge.
Every time he received the ball - which was often - he would run with it, usually straight at the hapless United full back John O’Shea. Sometimes he would just lose possession but sometimes he would not.
The trick he pulled on Darren Fletcher to set up his team’s third goal in a 3-1 win is one he would be happy to repeat even now. Late in the game, he ran half the length of the field towards his own goal to tackle David Bellion on the slide.
He really must have been trying to impress. By the end, the home crowd had started to call ‘Ole’ with each passing trick.
A number of United's players enthused to Sir Alex Ferguson about the then-teenage Ronaldo
The story goes that O’Shea had to be treated for dizziness at half-time. Roy Keane even repeats that one in his own book, and Ferguson has since spoken of the Irish defender wearing a ‘look of pain and bewilderment’.
‘We always joked with Sheasy that he had helped seal the deal by playing like a f*****g clown against Ronaldo,’ wrote Keane.
‘But in fairness he was jetlagged like the rest of us.
‘What impressed me was that Cristiano then had an option to stay in Lisbon for a couple of years but he came over to Manchester straight away. I thought it was a brave decision. After a few days’ training, I thought he was going to be one of the world’s greatest players.’
Roy Keane said Ronaldo would be one of the best ever players after just a few days' training
One of several myths that circulate around that night in Lisbon is that Ferguson signed Ronaldo after urgings from his players at full-time. It is true that on the plane home Rio Ferdinand, Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville all enthused about him.
However, the significant decision taken that night was merely to bring the deal forward. Ferguson knew
