Ronaldo - A feared winger to a pure finisher

It was the half time break when Rio Ferdinand and Ryan Giggs urged Sir Alex Ferguson to sign the 'lad' who had tormented John O'Shea throughout the first half.

Ronaldo was the name and the 18 year old was tearing Manchester United apart in a pre-season friendly in 2003.
As the match ended, Sir Alex took him to the United dressing room and introduced him to his players. Two days later Cristiano Ronaldo was signed by Manchester United from Sporting Lisbon for £12.3 million.

It was like a fairytale for the teenager from Madeira. He wanted the no. 28 jersey but Sir Alex instead insisted on giving him the iconic no. 7 worn previously​ by David Beckham and Eric Cantona.

He was soon up and running as he started spinning defenders off their feet in the United shirt. Defenders dreaded the pacy winger running towards them at with speed and a lot of tricks up his sleeve.
And freestyle in the Premier League? This boy had courage, a lot of it.
His freekicks seemed like a challenge note to the goalkeepers. They knew what he was going to do but still couldn't do anything about it.

6 years passed on as he won three Premier League titles, a Champions League, one FA Cup, two league cups and a Ballon d'or. He also scored 31 league goals in 2007/08, a Premier League record.

Obviously, he became a transfer target for Europe's elite clubs.
He completed his dream move to Real Madrid with a world record fees in 2009, a staggering €86 million.

In his first few seasons, he was a very similar player who played for United - running towards defenders with pace and beating them one by one. But as his Real Madrid career progressed, he began shifting towards the centre and started to score a lot more than before. As he passed the 30-year-mark, he lost quite a bit of his pace as well. So he started working on his goalscoring skills and movement as he transformed his game from a winger to a full fledged forward.

He is today arguably the world's best finisher. He doesn't showboat anymore or charge down the left wing going past one defender after another. His goals against Bayern and Atletico in this season's Champions League have been vital in Real's road to Cardiff. A hat-trick against Wolfsburg in last season's quarter final, the winning goal against Barcà at Camp Nou last season, and his double against Hungary in Euro 2016 are all big instances where he proved his worth as a finisher.

There are few players who have transformed their game with age to such extent that they could still influence the matches as much as they could before.
And Ronaldo has done it more effectively than most.