Cristiano Ronaldo – C. R. 7 all over again?
The Real Madrid sensation, Cristiano Ronaldo, wants to wear the number 7 jersey in Real Madrid, as Raul Gonzales left the club to enjoy the rest of his career in the Bundesliga side, Schalke. The 33 year old, Raul Gonzales, was definitely a legend for the Spanish club as he scored the highest number of goals for the team.
When Ronaldo came to the Spanish club from his former English club, Manchester United; Raul was the player who was wearing the number 7 jersey. The jersey means a lot to the Portuguese player because he wears the same number in his international team and “used-to” wear the same number in Manchester United as well.
C. R.7 became famous once he was a part of Manchester United. He actually shot to fame at the English club, Manchester United where he used to play under Sir Alex Ferguson, who is undoubtedly one of the best managers in the world. Alex Ferguson has helped his team, Manchester United, win 11 league titles and also helped his team come on top of the Champions League. The English team has succeeded under Sir Alex Ferguson a lot of times and still expects to win a lot.
Ronaldo’s career started from the youth team of Andorinha, where he played for two years and then was bought by Nacional. He played for Nacional youth team where he impressed many other teams and the talent was bought by another Portuguese club, Sporting CP. He played for the Portuguese side from 1997 to 2003. During his time in Sporting, he played 25 games for the team and only managed to score 3 goals.
His talent was not really “polished” by the Portuguese club but Sir Alex Ferguson took him in his squad in 2003, as he knew what he was capable of. He was signed for 12.24million pounds and became Manchester United’s first ever Portuguese player. When he came to the English club, he did not expect to be wearing the “Number 7 shirt,” because it was worn by players like George Best, Eric Cantona and David Beckham. The player said that he wanted to play in the shirt number 28, the same number that he had in his previous club. He quoted:
"After I joined, the manager asked me what number I'd like. I said 28. But Ferguson said 'No, you're going to have No. 7,' and the famous shirt was an extra source of motivation. I was forced to live up to such an honour."
He scored his first goal for the English team on the 1st of November when the team won 3-0 against Portsmouth. He managed to score 10 goals in all competitions as the fans also voted him to be the best young player of the year, back in 2005.
He managed to live up to their expectations and kept on performing for the English side as many teams kept on offering the English player to join them. The Manchester United “Number 7” won everything for his club during his time at Manchester United and was taken in by Real Madrid in 2009.
On 26th of June Real Madrid confirmed the fans that Ronaldo is going to join Real Madrid on 1 July 2009 as he signed a six year contract with the club and a record deal was struck. He was going to earn 11 million Euros per year and his buy-out clause at the moment is 1 billion Euros. When the player was taken in by Real Madrid, the number 7 jersey was worn by the Spanish and the Real Madrid legend, Raul Gonzales. Cristiano Ronaldo was given the number 9 jersey, which was actually worn by players like Ronaldo, who was a Brazilian legend and still has the highest number of goals scored in a FIFA World Cup.
Real Madrid wrote on their official website that Ronaldo wanted to wear the number 7 jersey as the Spanish player, Raul Gonzales has left the club to play for the Bundesliga club. Is Cristiano going to get back his C. R. 7 reputation back? Let’ see!
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