Cristiano Ronaldo

Shirt Number: 7
Position: Forward
Date of Birth: February 5, 1985
Birthplace: Madeira, Portugal
Height: 6 Feet 1 Inches
Weight: 75.15 Kilograms

Cristiano Ronaldo (pron. IPA /kɾiʃ.'tjɐ.nu ʁu.'naɫ.du/ or /ʁo.'naɫ.du/; full name Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro)Ronaldo was born in Funchal in the Madeira Islands where he started his career at Nacional before moving to Sporting Lisbon.

He made his debut for Sporting in the Portuguese Super Liga in September 2002 at the age of just seventeen.

Cristiano caught the attention of many - United players included - during the pre-season friendly which marked the opening of Sporting's new stadium, a game in which Ronaldo scored. The Reds management had been watching him for some time, however.

"After we played Sporting last week the lads in the dressing room talked about him constantly, and on the plane back from the game they urged me to sign him. That's how highly they rated him," revealed Sir Alex Ferguson at his signing press conference.

"It was only through our association with Sporting that they honored our agreement of months ago," Ferguson said.

""He is one of the most exciting young players I've ever seen, an extremely talented footballer. He's a two-footed attacker who can play anywhere up front: right, left or through the middle," he concluded.

Cristiano, who appeared 25 times for Sporting last season and scored three goals, added: "I am very happy to be signing for the best team in the world, and especially proud to be the first Portuguese player to join Manchester United.

Since debuting for the famous English club, Ronaldo has earned equal amounts of praise and criticism for his flashy style of play and dribbling skills. He has played primarily as a winger for United and his ability to use both feet allows him to play on either wing. He demonstrated these qualities at the 2004 FA Cup final in Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, in which he starred, scoring the first goal in United's 3–0 win over Millwall.

Ronaldo made his international debut in August 2003, against Kazakhstan. He scored Portugal's only goal in their 2–1 loss to Greece in the opening match of Euro 2004 and the first goal of the semi final against the Netherlands which Portugal won 2–1. The final saw a rematch of the opening game of the tournament and again, Greece emerged victorious. The tournament ended in failure for Ronaldo and Portugal, and has been followed by a persistent failure to fulfill his obvious potential. As of yet, for all his skill and pace, Ronaldo proves far too inconsistent and the jury still remains concerning whether he is a capable successor to David Beckham and the famous number 7 shirt once worn by Old Trafford legends; Eric Cantona, George Best and Bobby Charlton.

Ronaldo represented Portugal at the 2004 Olympic Games. As of 11 June 2005, he has scored 10 goals in 24 appearances for his country. Ronaldo is currently the second highest scorer in World Cup qualification in the European zone with 7 goals so far.

On the 29th October 2005 Ronaldo scored Manchester United's 1000th Premiership goal, in a 4–1 loss at the hands of Middlesbrough.