John O’Shea will renew acquaintances with Cristiano Ronaldo on Tuesday night still shuddering at the memories of his first encounter with Portugal’s superstar.
In August 2003, the relatively unknown Sporting Lisbon teenager caused Manchester United all kinds of problems in a pre-season friendly at the Jose Alvalade Stadium, with Rio Ferdinand later joking that O’Shea had needed an oxygen tank at half-time, while Roy Keane said the 18-year-old had left the defender suffering dizzy spells.
