In the summer of 2007, the transfer market was full of twists and turns, and Portugal Sport, which cultivated Cristiano Ronaldo, pushed a talented teenager in front of a group of giants, he was Nani, who was one year younger than C Ronaldo.
From the characteristic point of view, the fledgling Nani is similar to the former C Ronaldo position, the style of the ball is similar, many people call him "C Ronaldo II". But careful observers will have the same point of view in their minds -
Nani is very different from Ronaldo!
It wasn't long before Ferguson, who had Queiroz on his side, had the last laugh in the "Nani Scramble" and paid a transfer fee of £22 million to get the Portuguese winger, who was 21 years old at the time.
On why he chose Manchester United, Nani later said, "I was lucky enough to work with the best agents in the world and we made connections with a lot of important people. Having a connection with Manchester United, mainly because Cristiano Ronaldo played there, you know our story is very similar, playing for Portuguese sport and then Ferguson took him to Manchester United. ”
"Queiroz was at Manchester United at the time, he was Portuguese and therefore helped me a little bit and I was very excited about that. My agent asked me because there are so many teams to choose from – Arsenal, Chelsea, Italy's Juve and Inter. Real Madrid and Bayern are also interested – I don't know if it's true or not, but the news says so. ”
The new owner of United's no. 17 shirt has arrived, and he joined Manchester United at the same time as Kushchak, Hargreaves, Anderson and Tevez.
In July 2007, Nani embarked on a journey to the Far East with Manchester United and made his debut with Shenzhen Shangqing. In that game, Nani's "debut + first goal" was very eye-catching, so that many fans began to look forward to his debut in the Premier League.
On 13 August 2007, the last game of the premier league's first round was played at Old Trafford, with defending champions Manchester United taking on Reading.
Both sides started:
Manchester United (4-4-2): Van der Sar/Wes Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Sylvester/Cristiano Ronaldo, Scholes, Carrick, Evra/Giggs, Rooney;
Reading (4-3-2-1): Hahnemann/De la Cruz, Ingimazon, Dubéry, Schori/Morty, Harper, Gunnarsson/Xue Qixuan, Hunter/Doyle.
From the perspective of card strength, Manchester United have the advantage, and it is a home battle, Reading may not even seem to be 1% of the whole body retreat, but it is in such a passive situation that Reading played a game that shocked Britain, which not only made Manchester United's big names look disgraced, but also overshadowed Nani's debut.
Tevez signed autographs for fans
In the opening 45 seconds, when Manchester United was not yet in shape, Gunnarsson suddenly stepped forward to attack the goal, the strength was indeed a little less, van der Sar easily defused, but the feeling of domination gradually appeared.
In the 3rd minute, Rooney completed United's first shot of the game in front of the penalty area, his most confident position, but the strength of this shot was also not enough. Soon after, Carrick also completed a powerful shot, similar to Rooney's, and was not very threatening.
In the 24th minute, C Ronaldo, who broke through the defense on the right and crossed diagonally to the back post, Giggs understood that he would complete a non-stop shot, but unfortunately the ball hit the outside of the upright and flew out of the bottom line.
In the 36th minute, Manchester United suffered a blow, Carrick crossed from the right, in order to complete the package shot before Dubery blocked, Rooney grabbed the shot with his left foot, and Dubery, who was desperately trying to intercept, accidentally stepped on Rooney's foot, and Rooney was in pain and had to leave the field for treatment.
It was precisely because of Wayne Rooney's injury that Nani, who had been looking forward to the Premier League for a long time, got the opportunity to make his Premier League debut, and came on as a substitute for Rooney in the 46th minute.
At this point, between Manchester United and three "breaking points" in the front court - Giggs, C Ronaldo and Nani, the attack was like mercury, pressing Reading to his death in the second half of his own, allowing himself to practice shooting.
Anxious Queiroz and Ferguson
However, without a real goalscorer (at that time, Ronaldo had not yet transformed into a pure goalscorer), Manchester United only thundered and did not rain, the possession rate, the number of passes, the number of shots, the effective attack continued to increase, and the goal never came.
In the 69th minute, Manchester United completed a "Portuguese connection", as the eldest brother, Ronaldo took the initiative to create a chance for Nani, who fired a powerful shot 24 meters in front of the goal, slightly offside.
In the 89th minute, Nani crossed from the flank and Ferdinand acted as a bridge to make the ball for Scholes, but Scholes' header was confiscated by Hanemann.
Cristiano regrets missing the opportunity
In the end, Manchester United drew 0-0 with Reading, and Nani, who played 45 minutes in his debut, had a good appearance, a breakthrough, a shot, a cross, and completely showed his characteristics. In this regard, Ferguson is still very satisfied, after all, his plan is being implemented step by step -
Let C Ronaldo have more space to move and fire in the midfield, so that his position is closer to the box and closer to the goal, and the breakthrough and cross-passing tasks that he was responsible for are all handed over to Nani.
On 26 August 2007, the fourth round of the Premier League kicked off and United returned home to host Tottenham Hotspur. As United had not tasted victory before, Ferguson attached great importance to this game and had to win.
It is worth mentioning that in this game, Chinese player Dong Fangzhuo entered the manchester United roster and was the only forward player on the bench.
Ferguson had a sad look on his face
Manchester United (4-3-3): Van der Sar/Wes Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra/Hargreaves, Carrick, Scholes/Nani, Tevez, Giggs;
Tottenham Hotspur (4-4-2): Robinson/Zimbonda, Gardner, Rocha, Lee/Marblanc, Hurdstone, Janas, Bale/Berbatov, Robbie Keane.
Lee Young-woo fights Tevez
In the 11th minute, Nani crossed from the right and Giggs, who was wrapped up at the back post, fired a small angled shot from close to the goal, and robinson, who was well prepared, confiscated the ball.
In the 22nd minute, Nani shrugged off the defence and fired a long-range shot from the edge of the penalty area, and Tottenham's back, Huddstone, who was responsible for protecting the backline, gave up his life to block it.
Bell fights with Giggs
In the 38th minute, after Receiving Carrick's pass, Nani suddenly fired a left-footed shot from about 15 metres from the right rib, but unfortunately the shot deflected off the near post.
In the 44th minute, Nani completed another long-range shot in front of the penalty area, but still failed to hit the target.
In the 63rd minute, Hurdstone, who had been tortured by Nani again and again, once again had to use a foul to block Nani, and this time he also paid the price of a yellow card.
Nani broke the door instantly
In the 68th minute, Nani, who had been working hard, was rewarded with a long-range shot from 30 metres above goal, giving United a 1-0 lead. In slow motion, the shot hit Tevez with some deflection, so much so that Robinson had no choice.
In the end, Manchester United finally ushered in the opening of the new season with Nani's first goal in the Premier League, and Nani also established his position in the Manchester United squad with these four rounds of matches and this world wave.
On their Venice debut, Nani assisted his teammates in scoring
In the years since, Nani, who has excellent technology and unique style, once became what everyone called "Na No Pass", and then Manchester United's winger group has also had its own new nickname - Wa Bu Shooting, Ji Bu Lao, Yang Bu.
Those years, that Manchester United team, and the Nani who flipped the sea on the side, have become a good memory. Now, at the age of 35, Nani is back in the top five leagues and has provided assists on his debut for Venice.
This scene, just like when he first arrived at Manchester United, as long as he plays, he will contribute, as long as the time is not old, and the youth will not be gone.