By now anyone will have understood that from the day I saw Cruijff till today, wingers have always fascinated me. It’s the one position which, according to me has been perfectly named, as I think that wingers truly are players with wings. They don’t bother to run on the pitch, they simply fly. They make the other players look like some a bunch of schoolboys while themselves epitomizing the beauty of the game. The blistering pace which leaves the opposition defenders miles behind and crowd spellbound before breaking into a roar, the outrageous dribbles and the one-twos against the players, the soaring crosses which drop right in place for a striker to head the ball into goal, all are just a day on the pitch for a talented winger. And it is the continued display of these skills which makes football matches very endearing to watch. Only a very die-hard fan will pick to watch a modern day Chelsea-Liverpool snooze over the breath-taking antics of a Cristiano Ronaldo.

Winger is one of the two out-and-out attacking type players on the pitch, the other being the striker. There is simply no such thing as a defensive winger. Wingers are supposed to run through defenders and support strikers by creating goal scoring opportunities. They are supposed to stretch defenses allowing other players to exploit the gaps to attack the opposition. Teams like Manchester United which effectively employ wingers are far more attacking than teams who don’t and for people like me, much more endearing to watch. South Americans are considered to be the players with true flair, a fact which is accepted by many fans and players alike, but wingers are still the best players to watch on pitch, an interesting clash considering the fact that some of the best wingers are and have been of European origin.

To give a tactical overview, wingers can be classified as wide-forwards in traditional formations, but today are more or less attacking midfielders. They are used in standard 4-4-2 or 4-5-1 and 4-3-3 formations. Their primary aim is to beat opposing fullbacks by dribbling around them and delivering crosses from wide positions. These requirements make wingers, usually the most technically gifted players in the team. They are pacey, have excellent ball control, passing, crossing and top it off very good dribbling skills. Wingers do have defensive duties but they are very limited and in a normal game, wingers are expected to deal with the attacking aspect of the game and not the defensive. And above that they are very wily players, adept in the use of trickery and guile to bamboozle their seemingly witless opponents.

In the last couple of decades we have seen some very good wingers, inspite of the fact that football more and more is becoming a very technical game and the beauty of the game is on the decline. Ryan Giggs has of course been there all along and is still there right up with the best, an amazing fact considering he has been playing top flight game for almost 17 years. Andrei Kanchelskis, David Beckham, Luis Figo, Mauro Camoranesi, Karel Poborsky, Robert Pires and in the recent times Cristiano Ronaldo, Arjen Robben, Nani, Ricardo Quaresma, Joaquin, Alexander Hleb, Cicinho, Maxi Rodríguez, Jesus Navas and to certain extent Robin van Persie all are excellent examples and each of them has the capability to single-handedly smash through opposition defenses to either create goals or score them. There isn’t any person in this world, no matter how much a non-football fan, who cannot appreciate the on pitch trickery of Cristiano Ronaldo, or the pin-point passing of David Beckham. French great Henry began his career on the flanks before becoming a forward, and it is those skills which are a major reason for his ability to do his attacking runs. You just need to watch small clips of all these players to understand what kind of greats they are . . .

Who can forget the legendary goal by Giggs 99 FA-Cup semi-final, where he dribbled past 5 Arsenal players on the way to history or the performances of Luis ‘Lion King’ Figo for Barcelona and Madrid or the lob-shot specialist Poborsky and in recent times the trickery of the Portuguese Golden Boy, Ronaldo. They have truly lorded over football pitches . . .

The words

Take flight let your wings unfold

Only you can really be so bold

The open sky is your goal

Fly away, O liberated soul

truly suit a winger

and in these times, we look to likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and his fellow Lords of the Wings to restore football to its former beauty

United take on Lyon tonight knowing a scoreless draw would be good enough to take them through to the next round of the Champions League. A United win would however, put them at par with the record set by Juventus in 1997 of 10 straight home wins in the Champions League.

Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted the midfield selection dilemma which he faces with all the United midfielders being in top form off late. While Anderson and Hargreaves have built a formidable partnership in the middle, the likes of Fletcher, and Carrick have also given a good account of themselves in the recent games. Scholes is getting back to full match fitness with every passing game. Sir Alex played a 4-5-1 formation at Lyon, but at home he could be tempted to play a more attacking 4-4-2 with Tevez and Rooney up front, Nani/Giggs and Ronaldo on the flanks and a midfield pairing of Anderson and Hargreaves. In other team news, Nemanja Vidic who has been out due to calf strain is expected to make a comeback. The return of the ever-dependable center-back could prove to be vital for United as Lyon hitman Benzema has already shown what he can do in front of the goal. Ryan Giggs was rested for the Fulham game, and should make it to the United line-up, he however faces a stern competition for places from Nani whose form has been on the up. The manager may prefer the Welsh winger ahead of the Portuguese one on account of his experience in big games though. 

United have shown tremendous firepower upfront smashing as many as 26 goals in the last nine Champions League games, and if they continue to do so in tonight’s game there is every reason to believe that they will make it to the last 8 of the competition.
 
Manchester United (from): Van der Sar, Evra, Hargreaves, Ferdinand, Brown, Ronaldo, Anderson, Saha, Rooney, Giggs, Park, Vidic, Carrick, Nani, Scholes, Pique, O’Shea, Fletcher, Simpson, Kuszczak, Tevez, Eagles
 
Kick Off: 19:45 UK
 
Prediction: Manchester United 2-0 Lyon

Whenever I talk or discuss racism with any of my friends, the first thing that comes to my mind is a photograph of John Barnes – one of the most famous players ever to have donned the England shirt. It is a picture of John Barnes, in the good ol’ skintight kit, seems to be controlling the ball, which isn’t even in the picture. A closer looks reveals that he is actually back-heeling a banana, which was thrown onto the pitch by the opposition fans. It was not an attempt to put him off his game. It was much deeper than that – Hate. The problem was the color of his skin.

As the eighties drew to a close, incidents related to racism were increasingly rare as compared to the early days due to number of black players in the game. A few big money transfers helped the cause to a large extent. The player is again John Barnes. He moved to Liverpool from Watford. And Paul Ince moved from WestHam United to Manchester United. Things were expected to improve.

Within two years of Barnes’ arrival at Anfield, something happened which would change the face of English football forever – Hillsborough. The death of ninety-six Liverpool fans and the Lord Justice Taylor report led to the inception of the Premiership. Although there were also commercial reasons which helped in bringing about the change.

The first ball was kicked in the English Premier League on 15th August 1992. Manchester United, with their new signing Eric Cantona and the likes of Paul Ince, Dennis Irwin and Ryan Giggs, won the inaugural edition of the Premiership. Then followed the double! Together with the Premiership, “Kick Racism” was born in 1993. In 1994-95, most of the clubs had signed the anti-racism message and it reached the fans. The key was to combat racism inside and outside the ground.

Everything was going on well until Manchester United star Eric Cantona was sent-off at Selhurst Park for an off-the-ball incident against Crystal Palace. An enraged Cantona reacted angrily to abuse from a fan in what was described as the “Kung Fu” kick on Mathew Simmons.

The incident sent shock waves throughout the footballing world and there were claims to ban Cantona from playing Professional football again. Cantona’s legal team claimed that the player was subjected to racist abuse which most certainly saved Cantona from a lifetime ban. Enter John Barnes again. He famously said, “It took a white Frenchman to be assaulted in our league before racism was taken seriously”.

As days went by, black players had become an integral part of the league. While there were isolated incidents, the fight against racism was considered a success. Buoyed by the success of “Kick Racism”, an independent body funded by the FA, PFA et al. called “Kick it out” was born.

While racism looked under control in England, the scene was not very promising in the other European countries. There were many incidents of players being subjected to racist abuse. England striker Emile Heskey has been at the end of numerous racist abuses whenever he traveled as part of the England National Squad. Other players including Ashley Cole, Jermaine Jenas has also suffered the same fate. Liverpool boos Gerard Houllier even went to the extent of letting everyone know that his team would walk out if the players were subjected to racist abuse.

Things went from bad to worse when Ron Atkinson called Chelsea player Marcel Desailly as a “fucking lazy, thick nigger”. Players from other countries who plied their trade in the Premier League were also at the receiving end of racist abuses, most notably Dwight Yorke, Sylvian Wiltord and Thierry Henry. Worse was yet to come. Spanish National Team coach Luis Arogones referred to Henry as “that black sh*t”. The scene in the rest of Europe was not pretty.

In England, Thierry Henry led the fight against racism by launching “Stand Up, Speak Up” initiative. Everything looked fine with the support it received. The involvement of Rio Ferdinand meant that Arsenal and Manchester United were all set to wear special training shirts during their clash in February. While it looked brilliantly positive from outside, all was not well, when a few Manchester United players refused to wear the training shirt. Patrick Viera took a pop at Gary Neville in the tunnel, which incensed Roy Keane who produced an inspired performance in the game that United went onto win 4-2.

While there were questions regarding Nike’s involvement in the Anti-racism movement, nothing concrete came out of it. However, another row exploded when Wayne Rooney handed out Anti-racism bands to the England players in the dressing room during an international match. This led to Gary Neville going public blasting Nike of using Anti-racism to promote their brand. It was astonishing when one considers the fact that Nike had a 10-year contract with Manchester United and Rio Ferdinand was a central figure in the launch of Stand Up, Speak Up. That public outburst also explained the reason for the tunnel incident at Highbury. But the matter of the fact is – He was right!

There is little doubt that the various Anti-racism groups have achieved amazing things. Players have fought their way past racism. We have had Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke, who were victims of racist abuse, lead Manchester United to a treble in 1999. Theirry Henry led Arsenal to an unbeaten season that stretched to 49 games. Paul Ince has taken up coaching and soon we’ll have black manager in the top flight and in administration. Well, why not?

“Rugby fans watch the game, Football fans watch their team”. And that’s exactly the way it should be. Football, as a game, is played by millions of players every week. Millions watch it, read about it, listen to it and discuss it. Births, weddings, funerals are arranged around it. Football is the only religion worth talking about for many, including you and me. It is time to give back something to the game that has given us a lot. We should not be bothered by the color of the player on the pitch. As fans, all that should matter is the color of shirt of the team that we root for.

It is a battle between the second from the top and the second from the bottom, with the former trying to boost its surge towards achieving the Premiership while the latter making a bid to avoid the drop. United will be keen to repeat the kind of performance they gave at St. James’ last weekend as they take on Fulham at Craven Cottage on Saturday. Ryan Giggs is expected to miss out on the game due to a calf strain and probably also as a precaution with United to face Lyon in the Champions League on Tuesday.

The top 3 kick off at the same time this weekend, Arsenal entertain gritty Aston Villa while Chelsea face a difficult away trip to their London rivals West Ham. United supporters will recollect, last season in this fixture Ronaldo came up with a late winner when it looked almost certain that United would drop 2 vital points. Fulham have been woeful this season and United would be expected to get all 3 points without much problems. Speaking of problems, Louis Saha has had his problems with injuries this season (again). However it is good to see that whenever he gets on the pitch he does give United a new dimension, and does look likely to score. “In training he has been unbelievable. He looks sharp, strong and, most importantly, angry. You can see it in his eyes. He wants to do well. Louis is back”, says United full-back Patrice Evra. Hopefully Louis would be able to channelize some of his anger to score against his former club if he is given a chance on Saturday.

Teams:
United (from): Van der Sar, Brown, Vidic, Ferdinand, Evra, Ronaldo, Carrick, Fletcher, Hargreaves, Nani, Rooney, Tevez, Scholes, O’Shea, Saha, Kuszczak, Anderson, Park, Simpson, Eagles.

Fulham (from): Niemi; Stalteri, Hangeland, Hughes, Konchesky, Murphy, S Davies, Bullard, Bouazza, Nevland, Stefanovic, Kamara, Bocanegra, Volz, McBride, Smertin, Seol, Healy, Keller.

Kick Off: 15:00 UK
Prediction: Fulham 1-3 United
 

We say, Jean, read the news, daily. Remember how Sir wanted to sign another Central Midfielder when we played Sporting?

Rafael Benitez has come out and shared Stevie G’s sentiments. “Everyone at Liverpool shares Steven’s sentiments, there is no question about that. We wanted to be further up the table and the fact that we are not is a disappointment to everyone. ‘

So next year we will do that.

Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has been arrested and cautioned by police for common assault. The former England international, 30, was questioned on Wednesday about a roadside argument with a man near his Crosby home on Tuesday.

He hasn’t thrown coins at anyone; he hasn’t climbed the pitch wall or hurled profanities at rival fans. He hasn’t assaulted anyone, too.

Frank Rijkaard is interested in the Chelsea job. But his brother says “Frank is happy in Spain and has money, enough to eat two steaks a day”

Two steaks a day, that looks like Chelsea material right Chunky?

The former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra flew back home today for the first since he was ousted in a coup 17 months ago, and immediately surrendered to immigration police who arrested him on corruption charges.

Manchester City, enough said.

Tom Hicks today claimed he has the power to block any attempt by Liverpool co-owner George Gillett to sell his half of the club. Hicks this week insisted he had no intention of parting with his own 50% stake at Anfield, despite renewed interest from Dubai International Capital.

We are in this together. There is no way in hell you are getting out of this mess alone.

An early goal by midfielder Amy Kane saw Everton pull off a massive shock to win the Women’s Premier League Cup.

And when it comes to the real “beautiful football”… Sigh!

Keegan says he needs five new players to transform the team.

             Yes, and we are guessing the names are Maradona, Pele, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Zidane. Cheque please.  Kevin Keegan is still searching for the thing he was smoking while he took Mike Ashley’s call. We also hear Sam Allardyce doesn’t need ether anymore.

Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas says he has become more team-focused in the last year after admitting that he used to “want to show more of his own stuff” and was guilty of playing as an individual.

Does it mean we don’t get to see this anymore?

“Why do you support man utd ?” A million fans. A million different answers.Each one will go on and on for hours about the greatness of the club,but will still end by saying that they cant possibly put it in words.

 My friend put that question to me on the eve of my 12th  board chemistry exam and considering i had spent more than 1500 hours watching them play in the past 3 years he expected quite a long answer .But shocking as it may sound , I really had no answer for him. Now,don’t get me wrong. Its not as if i could not have given him the usual monologue about the Treble ,the dominance, the players, the manager and countless other things. I pride myself on being a competent speaker and could have let him have it for asking such a stupid question. It might sound very dramatic to some but something unexplainable was stopping me. The surge of emotions i felt was too personal to put in words. I did not say anything and my friend having read my expression didn’t push it. As i went to sleep that night I thought about that question. Why could I not answer him? I admit,this question gave me many a sleepless nights.

 Its been almost two and a half years since that day and although I still have no answer for his question,I am beginning to understand why I could not answer him. You see, in some ways the love for MAN UTD is like the love for your country. The answer lies deeper than just because you were born there. Its too close to your heart to say it out loud. But still,I have decided that I will give it another try. Chances are i will fail more miserably than last time,but this time i have the comfort of knowing i am speaking to fellow fans who will understand my plight.

 As supporters of Man Utd, we are lucky enough to be cheering for a club that actually delivers (unlike some other clubs,wink wink ). The no. of trophies that adorn our cabinet are a just gauge of the dominance we have had over English football in the recent decade. Considering the no. of times we have chased down big leads in the table or come back to win the match after trailing ,shows how determined to win our players are. No matter how bad our form is,no matter how many players we have injured we never let that be an excuse in our never ending pursuit of excellence.Since the inception of the Premier League we have won 16 titles and 11 FA cups. But even this was not enough.In the magical season of ‘99 we topped everything. We became the first English club to win the treble. Who can forget the now legendary lines
~”Manchester united have entered the promise land.”

 But it is not just recent success that sets our club apart.Historically our club is second to none. Our long and illustrious history is marked by incidents both proud and profoundly sad.The Munich tragedy. Just thinking about that horrendous tragedy is enough to move any fan to tears. Feb 6th,1958–In one moment,a whole club was torn apart and the whole footballing world was brought to a standstill. We lost 8 players of our squad–a squad that would have surely conquered the world if it was not for the cruel turn of fate. “The flowers of Manchester” as they were justly called included some of the best talents in the world at that time. Such a terrible tragedy would have been enough to destroy any other club.But did we bow down to our miseries and give up?? No,that is just not the United way. The way we rose from the disaster like a Phoenix out of the ashes under the Leadership of the legendary Sir Matt Busby is the stuff of legends. It was the perfect reward for our perseverance that in 1958 we became the First English club to win the European cup beating Benfica 4-1. “We are Man Utd,and we will never die”.

 The greatness of MAN UTD lies not in what it has achieved ,but the way in which we have done it. Our trademark style of playing football has never left us, i.e ; fast and attacking. No matter how much the chips are down we never stop going for goal. It can perhaps be defined best by saying “If you hit 3,we will hit 5″. This is no surprise considering the players that have been a part of our squad. From Duncan Edwards,George Best, Bobby Charlton, to Eric ‘The King’ Cantona,Captain Fantastic Roy Keane and the golden generation of Giggs,Scholes,Beckham we have always battled  to be the best. Perhaps that is the reason,why so much is expected of the current Light Bearers ie; Rooney,Ronaldo,Brown,VDS et al. And it makes me very proud to say that I am yet to be disappointed.

 Since the day I joined the 2939,my experience and perspective has grown in leaps and bounds. I have met many fans most of whose knowledge of the club is far more than mine. Whenever i talk to them, i find every reply of theirs oozing passion for the club. They would literally do anything to see united win. There are people from India,Pakistan,UK,Canada,Brazil and many other countries. Some are as young as 13 while others are happily married with flourishing family lives and jobs. So much diversity and yet amazingly they get along perfectly well. People accept the authority of the moderators without knowing them just because they get an opportunity to discuss something that they love. Its not like they don’t argue among themselves,but heaven save any rival who speaks ill of the club. The camaraderie that the club inspires among fans is mind-blowing.

 No fan can deny the feeling of immense pleasure felt seeing Rooney score from a perfect Ronaldo cross or watching  O’shea score the winner in the dying moments. The euphoria after such a win lasts for days making you smile whenever you think about it. Or the gut wrenching feeling of watching us go down 1-2 against city or watching Scholes being sent of just 11 minutes into the game. Or the profound pride felt watching Ole Gunnar Solskjaer walk down Old Trafford amidst thunderous applause from crowd and squad alike.This capacity of affecting millions of lives is nothing short of Magical.

 This is why I love MANCHESTER UNITED,the Greatest football club. Period.

One constantly yaps at bigger dogs. The other is just a Yorkshire Terrier.

Abdul Raouf

One’s horrendously ugly, can run long distances and can do fuckall with a football……The other appeared in the LOTR Movie Trilogy.

Thanks to Hasan Ejas.

But to be a Ronaldo , you gotta be obsessed with winning and passionate about everything in football , and if we look back into his life ,one can feel the essence of romance , pain , aggression , courage , humility all over it .

Being born to a middle class family in a small island “madeira” in Portugal , Ronaldo , the youngest kid in the family was named after the former US president , Ronald Reagan . The boy was very thin , under weight and had a big heart for football and family . At 6 , the boy became a menace in the streets , who often could be found with a Football . Arlindo Andrade , a neighbor of Ronaldo , finds him obsessed with the football ,and says ” the ball
never touched the ground , it used to be in his head , or in his chest , or in his legs ” ..

For a six year old , he had mind blowing skills and mastered perfection . When his dad , who once worked in a local football club , names a fellow friend from the club as ronaldo’s god father , who would later go down as one of the key person’ in changing the fate of ronaldo ..

At 7 , he started training with Andorinha , a club in which his father was a kit man . And he became a key player who used to play everywhere for his team . 2 years into this , he slowly started to attract the attention in madiera , and his godfather signed him with nacional football club ..

Amidst of all these , the boy never bothered about any of this . After arriving from school  , his mother often complains that he hardly does any homework . The cheeky ronaldo usually tells them that there aint any homework and goes to play in the streets with barefoot and returns home at night .  With him being the youngest in the lot , and the most talented , people just couldn’t stop admiring him and trusting him . And the boy who simply loved the game  , did what he can do best .. to score goals .  to win .. Indeed that is his mantra  , he , according to his neighbors and those who has watched him at streets playing football , say  that he cries , not only when he misses a goal , but also when any one from his team  misses a goal .. One might wonder about how odd that would be . But
that is the secret for Ronaldo’s success .. The fact that he hated losing . Yes we all hate losing ,  But only few can  do everything to push a mountain to be the best . and to do that , there should be a consistent urge and it came with his emotions .

” I hate to lose , every one does , but i feel more sad when i lose than others .. I am not to be blamed , its in my blood , that is how my family is ” says ronaldo .
Around 1995 , Nacional the then club of ronaldo’ were to pay some large amount ( 21 thousand pounds ) to Sporting Club Of Lisbon , and they could not afford to pay due to their financial status .
That might have been the blessing in disguise for the young talented kid as he was being given a trail at Lisbon for a week ..
The Boy who has never been into a flight , is fascinated to train with Sporting Lisbon . He says ” I was out there right from the first moment and i wanted to impress them and win the game i played ” . Such was his confidence and such was the level of performance he put in for the trail , that sporting lisbon agreed to take him for the money which nacional owed to sporting to be washed out . 20 thousand pounds for a 11 year old kid ?

This might be such a wonderful thing to the footballer ronaldo , but this has to be the toughest for the boy who so loves his family has to come to part with his family  . His father who always wants him to be the best , his mother who , so hard working and so proud , with tears and his brother and sisters crying to see him off in the airport . And the boy himself , crying his heart out in the flight after taking off .

And life at Lisbon for the young ronaldo wasn’t no cake walk either . People laughing at him for his Madeira accent which according him is like a different language altogether , and the fact that he is very thin and could go down with a tackle . Such brutal challenges at that age , only egged him on ..No wonder the boo boys don’t get into his skin .
“With barely 15 euro’s per month , he could hardly spend anything “, says his mother , who used to send money and gifts for him very often . Such is the support he gets from a family who simply loves him .

Some might come to a conclusion that yeah , they have achieved something now , but ronaldo never did . He used  to work out day and night .On one such incidence , he was caught using the GYM at 2 am in the morning . It rings us the bell of how the boy sachin tendulkar used to practice in his team hotel at 3 am with a hanging ball . Ronaldo’ was no different . The hunger for performing , the desire to improve his physique and the dedicated hardwork did not go waste one little bit .

And the performance on the field was very good that he became the best player in their youth rankings . Soon  , he caught the attention of many players , Jose Mourinho , the former chelsea manager , one of them . ” It was a fine game between Lisbon and União de Leiria and ronaldo was running with the ball with such skills , and i said to my assistant  , There Goes the son of van basten . ” ” I did not know his name ,
He was playing as a striker , and was completely in control of what he was doing and also resembled van basten by looks ” says mourinho .

Indeed . At 16 the boy is maturing as a football player at his youth team , the consistent urge for working out on the gym and its no wonder that he made his debut later that year for the senior team of Sporting Lisbon ..
He became an instant sensation who made an impact every time he started playing . And back home his mother almost fainted when he scored 2 goals for his club for the first time . The performance on the field , and the family off the field was a stand out reason why he grew tough mentally ..

Then came the inagural exhibition game against ManUtd and the rest of the game was history in the making .
Often people think , Sir Alex Ferguson , might not have signed him if he hadn’t performed the way he did against us . But it is wrong .. There was already an agreement between both the clubs that ronaldo was heading to manutd the next season .. It was the decision to go for him which fergie had to make after witnessing such an elegant performance . And the tradition left by The Great Georgie Best , The Captain Marvel , The King Le Roi , And the Golden Ball David Beckham , came the once in a life time chance for the boy who always dreamt of being the best . Number Seven already , and expectations were sky high , but his debut for manutd were in the bench ..

It was a fantastic game against bolton , and united couldn’t break the dead lock .. The crowd were getting a bit restless , and there was the lack of enthu in the field .. You might try to have a word with them in the half time , or probably make few substitution , bring fresh legs , try new tactics , and fergie went for ronaldo …

Right from his first touch , to the initial push , the precision , the control , the dribbling , His first move was a magnificent cross out of nothing . There , the fans were ordered to wake up ! He  shook Bolton’s tired defense and won a penalty … We won in the end .. But the spark , the touch of light , the star was born ..

Their were games where he simply would do things which you have never seen with the football , you might ask yourself , isnt he getting enough of the ball ? but thats normal for him .

His first season as a red devil was very well planned by Sir Alex , as he used ronaldo when and where is needed and slowly helped ronaldo to grow as a player ..
Although ronaldo was a genius to his fans , he was largely criticised all over the world .. Some questioned his credentials , there were statements like ” Decent talent , selfish display , would do f*** all at such a physical league  ” ..
And he was settling slowly .. Although he didn’t do any wonder immediately ..
It was a tad sad that he was signed along with the bunch of players fergie bought , who all went down as sad miss’es !

The likes of kleberson , djemba djemba , david bellion .. Looked like 2004 season was going to go down the crap .
But to a fan like me who adored ronaldo since day one . It was just a perfect season .. A boy at such age , breathtaking skills with his feet , taking defenders !

I still remember the game we played against liverpool .. Cristiano ronaldo was starting the game  , there was this phase in the game , where he won the ball in the middle of our ball , holding it , running , looking to create space , but there were just too many liverpool players everywhere crowded around him . He slowly turned his direction and moved the other way near the left wing and made a cut in , and beat three defenders on his pace and made a thunderous shot which hit the goal post from like 35 metres ! and i was like WOAH !
It was sad that his goal scoring record wasn’t any great in his first season . But the effort was there ..
A good FA cup finals and he saw his first trophy with us ! He put on a great show in the finals , with the roulettes , and a goal to cap it off .

Then there was the EURO 2004 . It is as if its been yesterday , portugal playing sad football against greece who are trailing by a goal to nil . And the entire crowd who had been chanting ronaldo ronaldo finally got what they wished . Although it was just few minutes he came in , some might have crumbled to the pressure , but he did not .

Scoring in the other games , like the one against netherlands and converting from every penalty which he had to take , and some sensational performance against the likes of england . Ronaldo was Internationally more consistent .. He started scoring goals for his country … Although euro 2004 ended in tears for ronaldo . It made him a wiser player . Ronaldo for portugal - post 2004 , had scored more goals than any one for portugal in their
next two years . And that is an astounding fact for the then 19 year old .

His second season with United was a bit different . For one that it had wayne Rooney entering into the mancunian army … but the other being the wild goal scarcity we faced all season . We were fantastic in the CL . But domestically the goals were dried . We missed RUUD due to injury in the first month , and rooney didn’t play untill the mid european group stage game .

It was a disappointing season . Ronaldo was decent . Not anywhere near what i imagined him to do .

As a fan , you have to go through few stages . I faced a lot of them being a ronaldo .. especially for the fact that  the ” going down easily ” when they were translated to DIVING , and CHEATING , by the rivals , it would hurt a lot . He did go down a lot easily in his first two seasons . But that is where FERGIE played a big role in the boy’s career !

I always thought the bet fergie and rondo had ever since his first season , was more to do with making the boy feel at home and play with the pride of wearing the manutd jersey . With Sir Alex and a captain like KEANO , i had no doubt that ronaldo would stop diving . So for me , the glimpses of brilliance always made me to sit on the edge of the seat and cheer my hero with all the might , no matter what the rivals say and boy didn’t he come out and answer every one single critic of em all ?

The third season , i would say was the most disasterous season and character testing one ronaldo has faced in his life .
He was first accused for alledgely raping a woman ( for which he was later found not guilty after a DNA test ) and a month later while with the portuguese squad which was
in russia ,  had to hear it from his scolari the portuguese national team coach , that his father , the man who wanted ronaldo to be what he is right now , the man who encouraged him ever since he was 5 , had died .
First test of character came when he was asked by scolari , to whether remain with the squad or return to portugal .

But the boy who i always knew for being made up of character , stayed and played the game against the uzbeks and scored .

And with Roy Keane leaving , Alan smith getting injured against liverpool , and the passing of The Great Georgie best , the 2005/2006 season was a disaster if you are a manc .

And Ronaldo had his bad form which resulted in a row with ruud van nistelroy for a row in training . Some said , that’s it for both of em . Only one could play in the club . And with Saha blooming , we had to see the end of RUUD !

And the world cup arrived  , and we all know what happened and let me not waste the time in how and what happened between ronaldo and rooney . To me , ronaldo has always been a committed professional for his team . I See the same with Wayne Rooney and if ronaldo had done something like that on steven gerrard or some one , rooney would ve asked the ref to send ronaldo off .. As that is how players play for their country .

But technically on the field , Ronaldo had one of the best tournaments of his life . To put all the disappointments out of his mind , right from the death of his father to the row with ruud van nistelroy , to take portugal to semifinals , single handedly . Yes , he did not score many goals . ? so ? If you consider goal scoring ratio , look at zidane then ?

It was disappointing to see podolski getting the award , but ronaldo there , has turned into a major character !

With one year of complete disappointment and sheer hardwork , and united played with Giggs and Oshea in the Central Midfield to finish the season in second !

Ronaldo was wanted by real madrid . Who wouldn’t want ronaldo ?
Fergie tried to call ronaldo ever since the world cup incident , but ronaldo had changed his number and hadn’t recv’ed any phone call and he tought he was left out of the plans as there wasn’t any word from his club .
It looked as though the end of such 3 beautiful years as a ronaldo fandom was almost going to end .

I ve not seen a player who could bring so much joy , so much enthusiasm into any game like Ronaldo have . It was a disaster if he was going to leave .
And thank god , that Fergie spoke with Carlos Queiros and met Ronaldo and the season which followed was magic .
Totally magic .
United played the best football we played in the last four years , with ronaldo playing on top of his game .
To the Rest of the world , it was like a shock . But for me , it was coming . The boy from his Andorinha days , the boy always dreamt of the same . To score goals , to win games , to be the best player in the world .And he was instrumental in helping us get the 16th title in our history . By scoring 24 goals in one single season .

If last season was extra ordinary , then this season is undescribable. He already has 30 goals to his name and it is only february still . If he is going to continue scoring at this rate , we could see him touch the magical 35 goal barrier which would be impossible to touch by any other midfielder in the premier league for some time to come atleast .

As a fan ,  i would like to see ronaldo improving against the big teams , not that he has been poor against them , i ve seen him rip the same arsenal’s defence in the FA cup finals in the 05 season , as well as been a big impact player against the milan at OT . Yes , he can improve more on these games , against the best of the defenders , but as long as he plays to his heart , his desire would push him and we can’t forget that he is just 23 !

From here , Ronaldo ’s career looks brilliant at such young age  .
Even though i wish he would play with United for all his life , i do not see that coming . I sincerely hope that he would play for another five to six seasons at United . Winning everything he can with us . and prove the world that , its not the style of football which matters , but it is the trophies which are the ultimate goal for any footballing team .

It really doesn’t matter if Ronaldo would end up being the greatest ever footballer , but , he will go down in history as one of the sensational players . From the days of his life when he had to play as a slim 7 year old , to a well build unstoppable player in the world . Ronaldo has indeed been a boy , who had a sensational dream , with a character of a true hero who was born on this planet to play the football .