During the summer of 2003, Manchester United moved to sign Cristiano Ronaldo from Sporting Lisbon, a transfer that has played a huge role in the fairytale career of the Portuguese attacker, but on this day in 2003, months before his arrival, it was another striker by the same name who made a huge impact at Old Trafford. On this occasion, though, it cost United their place in the Champions League.
Two weeks earlier, United had suffered a 3-1 defeat to Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, leaving the club up against it as they tried to make the last four of the competition. Their chances of overturning a two-goal deficit were made harder by suspensions to Gary Neville and Paul Scholes, while manager Sir Alex Ferguson made the controversial call to drop David Beckham in favour of Juan Sebastian Veron. As for Real, Vicente del Bosque opted to hand a start to former Liverpool player Steve McManaman, who lined up alongside the likes of Claude Makelele, Zinedine Zidane and Luis Figo in midfield.
United started the second leg on the front foot, with Ruud van Nistelrooy drawing a solid save out of Iker Casillas, but with 12 minutes gone, Real struck to cancel out United's away goal in Spain. Ronaldo latched on to a through-ball from Guti, and although the Brazilian was running away from goal, he drilled a low shot inside Fabian Barthez's near post to extend his team's advantage on aggregate.
It was a bitter blow for United, and they almost conceded a second when Figo lifted the ball over Barthez before the Frenchman scampered back to tip the ball over the crossbar. However, after a period of sustained pressure, United got back on level terms through Van Nistelrooy, who slid in ahead of a defender to tap home Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's cross.
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The equaliser gave United a bit of momentum heading into half time, but Real returned on the front foot, and after Figo had struck the bar, they netted a second. Zidane orchestrated the move, sliding the ball through to the onrushing Roberto Carlos who cut the ball back for Ronaldo to provide the simple tap-in from six yards.
The English giants needed four goals in the remaining 40 minutes to have any chance of progressing to the last four, and shortly after Real's second, they found a way back into the game. Solskjaer played the ball into the path of Veron, whose first-time strike was heading wide before it was deflected through the legs of Casillas and into the net.
United laid siege to the Madrid goal, with Casillas doing well to save from Solskjaer before getting his leg in the way to stop a deflected strike from Veron finding the back of the net, but shortly after his double intervention Real, and Ronaldo, all but guaranteed their place in the semi-finals.
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Figo had been at his brilliant best all evening, and after playing the ball to Ronaldo and providing a decoy run, the Brazilian was left with time and space around 30 yards from goal. After playing the ball ahead of him in front of a fearful defence, he was able to lash a superb effort into the bottom corner, leaving Barthez clutching at thin air.
That third goal saw Ferguson introduce Beckham into the action and it took just seven minutes for the England skipper to make an impact. After United were awarded a free kick on the edge of the penalty area, Beckham stepped up to curl the ball over the wall and in off the underside of the crossbar.
With the clock ticking down, any chance of United staging a miraculous comeback in the tie had long gone, but before the full-time whistle, they made sure of victory on the night when Beckham slid in for his second after a Van Nistelrooy shot had been kept out. While United's pride had been maintained, their defence had been thoroughly outclassed by Ronaldo.
However, despite the Brazilian netting the opening goal in their last-four tie with Juventus, the Galacticos bowed out 4-3 on aggregate as they failed to become the first team to successfully defend the European Cup.
Manchester United: Barthez, O'Shea, Ferdinand, Brown, Silvestre, Veron, Butt, Keane, Giggs, Solskjaer, Van Nistelrooy
Subs: Ricardo, P.Neville, Blanc, Fortune, Fletcher, Beckham, Forlan
Real Madrid: Casillas, Salgado, Hierro, Helguera, Carlos, Makelele, Guti, McManaman, Figo, Zidane Ronaldo
Subs: Cesar, Pavon, Flavio, Cambiasso, Solari, Portillo, Morientes
Darren Plant
