The debut of the great players in the history of football it is always marked by the stage, the performance and the rivals. The story of Cristiano Ronaldo is no exception and this August 14 are fulfilled 20 years since his debut on the UEFA Champions League with Sporting Lisbon.
Coach Laszlo Boloni went down in history for making the decision to give him 32 minutes a Cristiano Ronaldo (T-shirt 28), in the match that the Sporting played against Inter de Milanin the first leg of the third qualifying round for the Group Stage.
The match It was not ideal for a youthsince the team from Portugal had one of the best teams of canowho made history in that edition managing to reach the Semifinals.
The dribble that from Cristiano Ronaldo to Matías Almeyda
The technician gave confidence to the young Ronaldo to test your skills on the pitch José Alvalade Stadiumbefore an Inter with the Argentines Javier Zanetti and Matias Almeydawho tested the rookie’s first dribbles.
that night in Lisboathe striker was encouraged to stepping on the ball, attempting through passes and making some breaksone of them to Almeida who by then was already famous for great scorer in italian football; even so, videos of that game show the ability of the Lusitanian, still unpolished, but with the courage to try different things on the field.
The score ended tied 0-0which seemed like a good result for the locals, who had at least kept at bay a team that, in addition to the aforementioned Argentines, had among its ranks the defender Marco Materazzi (which Zidane would make famous with a header at the 2006 World Cup), midfielder Álvaro Recoba and the scorer Christian “Toro” Vieri.
Conclusion of a magical day
CR7 did not weigh enough with some goal play, but his debut was marked by showing that gall to play one on one to the big ones of world football and that I was only 17 years old.
The Sporting Lisboa could not qualify for the Group Phase, because Inter eliminated them 2-0 on aggregate; In addition, the Italian team got to the Semifinal of that edition of the most important tournament at club level.
Cristiano Ronaldo he had to wait a year to make his UCL Group Stage debutbut that was already with Manchester United on October 1, 2003 against Stuttgart and surrounded by figures like Ruud Van Nistelroy.
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