Ronaldo v Ronaldo: On This Day in football Brazilian Ronaldo shone at old Trafford - was he better than Cristiano?

There was a time when the name Ronaldo stood alone, without the Cristiano in front of it, but was still in the same conversation about who the best player in the world was.

It’s perhaps a nice touch of symmetry between the two that one of the crowning glories for the ‘original Ronaldo’ came at one of the homes of Cristiano (as we’ll call him for the purposes of this confusing piece) and where he truly became a global icon.

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Old Trafford rose to its feet to applaud Ronaldo on April 23, 2003 after a stunning Champions League hat-trick – nothing new there apart from he was wearing Real Madrid black and putting the Red Devils to the sword.

Ronaldo showed every aspect of his unlimited footballing ability, gifts that saw him crowned FIFA World Player of the Year aged just 20 – the youngest player to ever scoop the accolade that he would go on to win three times in all.

He also broke the world transfer record twice before the age of 21 when moving to Barcelona and then on to Inter Milan in a couple of seasons, before injuries took hold and limited what should have been a career to match even the gear Pele and Diego Maradona.