Cristiano Ronaldo

Biography

Portugal's best and Manchester United's darling midfielder, Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro was brought into this world on February 5, 1985 in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal. His mother Maria Dolores dos Santos Aveiro and father Jose Dinis Aveiro had four children. His parents decided to name this future famous footballer after someone that you wouldn't think a Portuguese family would normally consider. He was named after the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan.

A passionate desire to play on the field and an undying love for football, Cristiano's interest in the great sport of football started when he was just three years old. When Cristiano was around ten or so, word of his spectacular skills on the field was getting around his native country of Portugal. The young midfielder was soon getting a lot of much deserved interest from some of the most popular clubs in Portugal; Cristiano's football future was looking very bright.

After stints with three different youth clubs, Andorinha, CD Nacional, and Sporting CP's youth club, Ronaldo finally made his debut with his first senior club, Sporting CP or Sporting Clube de Portugal. An influential impression was made against his current club Manchester United in 2003 in front of world famous football manager Sir Alex Ferguson of Manchester United. This match resulted in an embarrassing loss for one of the English Premiership League's best, Sporting handed Manchester United a beating with a final score of 3-1. Not only did Ferguson take notice of Cristiano's amazing performance but the Manchester United players were absolutely blown away by the midfielder's play. Cristiano Ronaldo's on field heroics stirred up so much talk about him from the opposing United players that they were saying something that almost never gets said about any opponent, they said they would much rather play with him, rather than against him. What was to follow was nothing short of a surprise to many as a young Portuguese player was soon to take the world of football by storm. After a scintillating performance against the most famous football club in the world, Cristiano Ronaldo received instant respect and was finally considered as an elite football player. To Cristiano's fortune Manchester United was in dire need of a midfielder after superstar David Beckhman left to play for Real Madrid. The void created by Beckham was huge and Manchester United had to fill it up with a superstar who could take them to the promised land. After a lot of speculation and drama surrounding the replacement, Manchester United finally signed Cristiano Ronaldo after his stint with Sporting CP ended in 2003.From the very day Cristiano signed with Manchester United, his football career took off and hasn't slowed since. In the same year he also made his debut for the national team of Portugal playing in a match against Kazakhstan. In the following year, Ronaldo put up one of his best performances. In the World Cup qualifying games the superstar midfielder scored 7 goals and made his presence felt in the Portuguese national team. Only a year later in 2005, Cristiano Ronaldo netted 11 goals for his country in 25 appearances. Although the up and coming superstar was making waves in the international football stage, controversy hit in the 2006 World Cup and it involved someone that was closely linked to him at his club Manchester United.

Manchester United teammate of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, striker for the English squad received a red card in a very important match, England versus Portugal in the World Cup quarterfinals. The real conflict wasn't Rooney getting booted; it was the reason for the ejection that