Cristiano stepped off the plane into a new world
Manchester air bit colder than anything he'd ever felt in Lisbon
But it wasn't the weather that made him shiver
It was the weight
The number
The eyes
From the moment he signed
The media called him "the boy with too many stepovers"
The fans were curious
The legends were watching
And Sir Alex Ferguson was waiting
Inside the training ground
Cristiano stood still as the locker room doors opened
The first face he saw was Ryan Giggs
Then Scholes
Then Roy Keane
He gulped
"Oi kid
What's your name again?"
Cristiano's English was broken
But his stare wasn't
"Cristiano Ronaldo"
They laughed
Not to mock
Just that half-joking tone pros use when they meet someone who's already on posters but hasn't proved anything yet
That first training session?
Disaster
His passes were too flashy
He dribbled too long
Keane screamed
Neville shoved him
Rio Ferdinand just shook his head
But when it came time for the sprint drills
No one could touch him
His legs were missiles
His hunger was visible
And when they finally played a mini-match
Cristiano went past three defenders and chipped the keeper with ease
Silence
Then whispers
Then Rooney said
"Okay
Maybe he ain't just hype"
Later that night
Cristiano sat on his bed
No celebration
No smile
Just ice on his ankles and a journal open on his lap
He wrote one sentence in Portuguese
"If they think I'm good now
Wait until I become their nightmare"
And just like that
The boy who once played barefoot on Madeira's cobbled streets had entered the lion's den of English football
He wasn't there to survive
He came to dominate