Cristiano Ronaldo's Manchester United debut, 2003: How he wowed Old Trafford the first time
Bolton were the victims of the first of Cristiano Ronaldo's Manchester United debuts. Here, we revisit a performance George Best reckoned was the greatest he'd ever seen
This feature on Cristiano Ronaldo's Manchester United debut first appeared in the February 2021 issue of FourFourTwo magazine. Subscribe now and never miss an issue!
On August 16, 2003, a pair of substitutes made their debuts for Manchester United. The first went on to become one of the greatest players of all time; the second went on to become Eric Djemba-Djemba.
Djemba-Djemba’s Old Trafford career was doomed before he had stepped on the field. Introduced only six minutes after Cristiano Ronaldo, he had already been left with an impossible act to follow.
Manchester United were labouring against Bolton in their league season opener, leading 1-0 after an hour, when Ronaldo replaced Nicky Butt. Aged 18, with blond streaks in his hair that hinted at a certain confidence, the wonderkid had arrived from Portuguese side Sporting for £12.5m days earlier, taking the No.7 shirt vacated by David Beckham. The crowd greeted CR7’s introduction so loudly, and with such elation, that you wondered whether the new boy could possibly match their sky-high expectations. In fact, he more than exceeded them.
WATCH THE GAME Manchester United v Newcastle United live stream: How to watch the Premier League game from anywhere in the world
18 days until we go againHere's how @Cristiano kicked off his #PL career... pic.twitter.com/nsJmSPejTFJuly 23, 2018
Receiving the ball for the very first time in a red shirt, he skipped past Nicky Hunt before being upended. “With one of his first touches, I put him on the deck,” the full-back proudly proclaimed years afterwards.
“The right-back rattled him straight away,” Alex Ferguson later wrote. “But Cristiano got back up and demanded another pass, right away. I thought, ‘He’s got the balls’.”
Get FourFourTwo Newsletter
The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.
Not only did he have the balls, he frequently had the ball in the final half-hour, becoming United’s go-to man as it became obvious how devastatingly effective he could be. “He did about 100 stepovers and earned a penalty,” Kevin Davies later told FFT.
Playing on the left wing, first Ronaldo got his own back on Hunt with a Cruyff turn, then performed some mesmerising stepovers to surge past the defender.
He was causing such mayhem that just 10 minutes after his entrance, uncertainty in the Trotters’ penalty area led to the starlet being hauled down by Kevin Nolan.
ALSO READ
The Saturday 3pm blackout: Why aren't all Premier Leagues games broadcast on television in the UK?
Can Cristiano Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes play well together?
These days, Ronaldo would seize the ball and stick the penalty into the net himself – back then, Ruud van Nistelrooy had spot-kick duties and was denied by Jussi Jaaskelainen. It didn’t matter: Ronaldo soon grabbed hold of possession again and whipped in a cross that eventually led to Ryan Giggs making it 2-0 from close range.
Still the prodigy wasn’t done. “Of his own volition, Ronaldo moved out to the right wing and put two superb crosses in,” continued his gaffer. “The crowd on that side of the ground responded as if a Messiah had materialised before their eyes.”
Every stepover was met with another cheer. Ronaldo was operating at a tempo higher than anybody else on the pitch. His feet and his mind were just too quick for Wanderers. Discombobulated by the whirlwind sweeping the field, Bolton lost 4-0. “Ronaldo changed the game,” sighed Sam Allardyce.
Ferguson hailed it as “a marvellous debut, almost unbelievable”. “Undoubtedly the most exciting debut performance I’ve ever seen,” was George Best’s assessment, himself an iconic United No.7. By the time Ronaldo left the field at the final whistle, the Old Trafford faithful were chanting his name. For six years, they rarely stopped.
Everyone present that afternoon knew that a star had been born. Only one man has ever been named FIFA World Player of the Year while playing in the Premier League – and it wasn’t Eric Djemba-Djemba.
Subscribe to FourFourTwo today and get three issues delivered for just £3. The offer ends October 17, 2021.
GUIDE Premier League live streams: How to watch every game from anywhere in the world
UNITED XI Eight Brazilian players to be barred from playing in Premier League this weekend
Chris joined FourFourTwo in 2015 and has reported from 20 countries, in places as varied as Jerusalem and the Arctic Circle. He's interviewed Pele, Zlatan and Santa Claus (it's a long story), as well as covering the World Cup, Euro 2020 and the Clasico. He previously spent 10 years as a newspaper journalist, and completed the 92 in 2017.