Over the years, we’ve heard many a tale of the night Cristiano Ronaldo convinced Alex Ferguson to bring him to Manchester United.
A considerably skinnier, 18-year-old Ronaldo tormented his soon-to-be new teammates in their pre-season friendly against Sporting Lisbon on August 6th, 2003, setting up a couple of goals and showcasing his speed, technique and potential.
John O’Shea was the poor unfortunate tasked with marking the untouchable teenager.
Thirteen years on, Ronaldo and Nike have decided to commemorate that night in boot form, with the brand spanking new Nike Mercurial Superfly CR7 Chapter 3: Discovery, launched on Monday.
“This game changed my career forever,” Ronaldo explains in the video below. “Just ten days after the match, I was already playing in England with my new team, embracing new challenges”
https://youtu.be/4ctZ6HEovrE
The colours of the boots are said to a modern, amplified version of those worn by the team he was playing for that night and the numbers 06, 08 and 03 can be seen on their heel, commemorating the date of the match. There’s also a picture of Eric Dejemba-Djemba’s face stitched on the side.
Okay, we made that last bit up.
Still, here’s a few pictures…
Lovely stuff.
You can catch up on the latest episode of JOE’s Football Friday Live right here…
