Cristiano Ronaldo returns to the stadium where it all began on Tuesday, and he’ll be wearing some special boots to commemorate the occasion.
Ronaldo will lead Real Madrid against Sporting Club of Portugal in Champions League action and it’s only the second time since 2003 that he returns to face his former club at the Estádio José Alvalade in Lisbon.
The all-time leading Champions League scorer will debut a new pair of Nike shoes, the Mercurial Superfly CR7, which includes the date ‘August 6, 2003’ on the back of the boot. The date references the match that changed Ronaldo’s career, his final appearance for Sporting in a pre-season friendly against Manchester United.
The 18-year-old Ronaldo was so impressive in that game, a 3-1 victory for Sporting in the first-ever match played at the stadium, that Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson signed a transfer deal for the young Portuguese winger after the final whistle while his United players waited on the team bus.
Ronaldo, who joined Sporting’s famed Alcochete Academy at the age of 11, went on to play six seasons in Manchester before joining Spanish giants Real Madrid. Since that first transfer move, Ronaldo has gone on to win three Ballon d’Or trophies and three Champions League titles.
In his first trip back to Lisbon in September 2007 as a member of Manchester United, Ronaldo scored the lone goal in a 1-0 match in Champions League group play. Ronaldo also scored against Sporting in a match earlier this season, a 2-1 victory for Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu.
