After Facing Ronaldo, This Defender 'Needed Oxygen Tank,' Manchester United Legend Reveals An Extraordinary Incident

Manchester United veteran Rio Ferdinand has revealed an incident involving Cristiano Ronaldo before the Portuguese had joined the Red Devils in the Premier League.

Before moving to the Old Trafford side, Ronaldo played for Sporting Lisbon. Back in 2003, both the sides faced off in a friendly fixture and an 18-year-old Ronaldo was so impressive that he left the opponent players begging Sir Alex Ferguson to sign him. Man Utd eventually signed the young Portuguese that summer for a transfer fee of $15.32 million.

Ferdinand, in a recent interview, described how good Ronaldo was in that friendly game. The star defender has revealed that Ronaldo dominated thoroughly on the left-wing, so much that the Man Utd players had no answer to his game and one of them, John O’Shea, must have needed an “oxygen tank” at half-time.

“We played against Sporting in 2003, we get in at half-time and John O'Shea must've needed an oxygen tank next to him," Ferdinand disclosed during a live FIFA 20 match as part of the "Stay Home. Play Together" campaign conducted by EA SPORTS and COPA90.

“He was in bits and he was sitting there panting. We were telling him to get closer to Ronaldo and he couldn't even answer us. To be fair, me, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt were standing there going 'this kid's unbelievable, we've got to sign him'."

"We got on the coach and we were delayed for about an hour and a half, and then they said they were doing a deal to sign Ronaldo now,” Ferdinand added further, as reported by Mirror.

Former Man Utd skipper Roy Keane has spoken about O’Shea’s misery on several occasions, claiming his teammate had dizzy spells at half-time due to jet leg as The Red Devils had flown to Lisbon from New York the night before.

“Sheasy ended up seeing the doctor at half time because he was actually having dizzy spells," Keane told the Telegraph.

Ronaldo, who had his glorious years during his six-year stint with The Red Devils, won three Premier League titles, a Champions League trophy, the FIFA Club World Cup, The FA Cup and two League Cup winners trophies.