Moscow, 2008. Ronaldo misses his penalty in the shootout, and for a few minutes it looks like he's thrown away the Champions League. Then Edwin van der Sar dives the right way for Nicolas Anelka's kick and United win it.
So why isn't Van der Sar in goal here? I'll get to that. This is the best side you can pick from the players Ronaldo actually shared a club with, across Sporting, two spells at United, Madrid, Juventus and now Al Nassr, where he's still playing at 41. Portugal doesn't count.
They had to share a dressing room, which rules out two famous names. David Beckham left Old Trafford the summer Ronaldo arrived, and Ronaldo was handed his number 7. Michael Owen turned up at United the summer Ronaldo left for Madrid.
The XI
4-3-3, with Alex Ferguson in charge.
Before anyone says it, yes, seven of these are Madrid players. He was there nine years and they won four European Cups in five seasons. I've tried to give United a fair go, and I've probably still been too kind to the Spanish lot.
Goalkeeper
Iker Casillas. Van der Sar won Ronaldo his first Champions League with that save from Anelka, and if you're a United fan you'll want him in. Gianluigi Buffon was at Juventus with Ronaldo as well, apart from the 2018-19 season he spent at PSG.
But Casillas was the Madrid captain from 2010 until he left in 2015, six seasons with Ronaldo in front of him. He was the one lifting the cup in Lisbon in 2014, the tenth European Cup that Madrid had been chasing for twelve years. Van der Sar was probably the calmer keeper. Casillas was there for more of it, and for the bigger nights. I'll take him. Narrowly.
Defence
Gary Neville. This is where I part company with the Madrid fans. Dani Carvajal won four Champions Leagues alongside Ronaldo, and if you go purely on medals he walks in. Neville was the right back behind him for six seasons at United, and the captain from 2005. He was the one doing the covering when an 18-year-old Ronaldo went off on his own down the right. Carvajal's in the list below.
Sergio Ramos. 92:48, Lisbon, a goal down to Atlético, and he heads it in.
Nemanja Vidić. United fans will tell me I've split up the best centre back pair of the Premier League era to make room for a Spaniard, and they've got a point. Rio Ferdinand was there for every one of the three straight titles and the Moscow final, same as Vidić, and he's probably the better footballer. So this one's taste. I just want Vidić's head on the end of a corner, and Ramos next to him.
Marcelo. Patrice Evra was excellent on that side at United, and nobody should be embarrassed to pick him. I still go Marcelo. He was basically a winger who started at left back, and he had nine seasons of working out where Ronaldo would drift. He scored the third in Lisbon, too, in extra time.
Midfield
Luka Modrić. Spurs sold him to Madrid in 2012 and he had six seasons alongside Ronaldo. The Ballon d'Or came in 2018, the year Ronaldo went to Turin.
Paul Scholes. The goal against Barcelona at Old Trafford in the 2008 semi, from outside the box, is the reason United were in Moscow at all. Keane, Carrick and Xabi Alonso were all in the running for this spot. Alonso was the hardest to leave out, five years at Madrid with Ronaldo and the best passer of the lot over 40 yards. I just couldn't bring myself to drop Scholes.
Toni Kroos. I think he's the most underrated player in this team, and I'd still say that if you made me pick him over Scholes. He arrived from Bayern in 2014, fresh from winning the World Cup with Germany, and won three European Cups in four years with Ronaldo. Him and Modrić together meant the ball very rarely left Madrid's feet.
Attack
Gareth Bale. People forget how many of the big moments in those Madrid years were his. Lisbon, extra time, Di María's shot gets saved and Bale heads in the rebound to put Madrid ahead. A few weeks before that, he ran past Marc Bartra almost off the pitch to win the Copa del Rey final against Barcelona.
Then Kyiv in 2018. The overhead kick against Liverpool, and a second goal later on. It was Ronaldo's last game for Madrid, and on the biggest night of the season it was Bale everyone was talking about.
Karim Benzema. Nine years of dropping deep, holding it up and getting out of the way so Ronaldo could score. When Ronaldo left, Benzema became the main man and won the Ballon d'Or in 2022.
Wayne Rooney. Summer 2006, Gelsenkirchen. Rooney gets sent off in the World Cup quarter-final, Ronaldo is caught winking at the Portugal bench, and the papers decide they'll never play together again. They won the league the following May.
Rooney had arrived a year after Ronaldo, both of them teenagers, and they won three titles and a European Cup together. Carlos Tevez played up front with them in the Moscow side, and Ruud van Nistelrooy was scoring for fun in Ronaldo's first few seasons. You could make a case for either. I'd still go Rooney, because he'd play anywhere across the front three and run all day doing it.
Manager
Alex Ferguson. Zinedine Zidane won three European Cups in a row with Ronaldo, which is a hell of an argument. But Ferguson bought a skinny 18-year-old winger from Sporting in 2003, and five years later he was Ballon d'Or winner.
Close but not quite
- Edwin van der Sar. Moscow should be enough on its own. If you swap him in for Casillas, I won't fight you.
- Rio Ferdinand (United, 2003 to 2009). I've already admitted it's a coin toss with Vidić.
- Dani Carvajal (Madrid, 2013 to 2018). Four European Cups with Ronaldo. On medals alone he's in.
- Pepe (Madrid, 2009 to 2017). Eight seasons at Madrid together, and he'd make plenty of people's XI ahead of Vidić.
- Kaká and Mesut Özil. Kaká arrived at Madrid the same summer as Ronaldo, and Özil spent 2010 to 2013 setting him up.
- Ángel Di María (Madrid, 2010 to 2014). UEFA's man of the match in Lisbon, then sold that summer.
- Gonzalo Higuaín. Played with Ronaldo at Madrid and again at Juventus, which not many can say.
- Chiellini, Bonucci and Dybala. The best of the Juventus years, with two Serie A titles to show for it.
- Ricardo Quaresma (Sporting, 2002-03). The other teenage winger at Sporting that season, and for a while people genuinely weren't sure which one would be better.
Quick answers
Who was Cristiano Ronaldo's best teammate? Benzema, for me. He spent nine years making Ronaldo's numbers possible.
Did Ronaldo play with Beckham? Not for a club. Beckham left United in 2003 just as Ronaldo signed.
Build your own
If you'd rather have the Moscow side from 2008 or the Lisbon side from 2014 on the wall, or your own Ronaldo XI with Van der Sar and Ferdinand put back in, you can build it in our team builder. Prints are £99 or £149 in a black or white frame, with free UK delivery and a proof emailed to you before anything's printed. Or start from one of our Manchester United prints or Real Madrid prints.