Cristiano Ronaldo joined Manchester United in 2003 from Sporting Lisbon for £12.24 million - a record transfer fee for a teenager at that time. He was also the club's first-ever Portuguese signing.
He won three Premier League titles and a Champions League trophy in his time at Manchester United. He had also won his first Ballon d'Or award while being at the club.
Ronaldo made his debut for the club on August 16, 2003, in the Premier League opener against Bolton Wanderers. He came on as a substitute in the 61st minute of the match replacing Nicky Butt. Ryan Giggs scored a brace and Ruud van Nistelrooy and Paul Scholes were on target as the Red Devils won the tie 4-0.
Let us take a look at the players who played alongside Ronaldo in his debut match for Manchester United and where are they now?
The United States international goalkeeper joined Manchester United along with Cristiano Ronaldo in 2003 and played at the club for three seasons before heading out on loan to Everton in the final year of his contract. In the subsequent season, he joined the Toffees on a permanent deal and spent the next nine years at the club.
He retired from professional football in 2019 after spending three seasons at MLS side Colorado Rapids. In 2020, he became a minority owner and Sporting Director of US second division side Memphis 901 FC.
The Manchester United academy product and a part of the famous Class of 92, Neville made his debut for the club in 1994 and played until 2005. The next eight seasons he spent at Everton before retiring from professional football in 2013.
After retirement, the defender worked as an assistant manager with the England U21 side and at Valencia. In 2015 he was the caretaker manager of Salford City along with Paul Scholes. Neville was also a 10 per cent stakeholder at the club. In 2018 he became the head coach of the England Women's national team. In January 2021, he joined MLS side Inter Miami as their new manager.
One of the finest English central defenders of all time, Rio Ferdinand joined Manchester United in 2002 from their rivals Leeds United for a record transfer fee of £30 million at that time.
Ferdinand went on to play for 12 years at the club after which he joined Queens Park Rangers for a year in 2014 and retired from professional football in 2015.
He's working currently as a TV pundit among numerous other roles.
The French defender joined Manchester United in 1999 from Inter Milan and played at the club for nine seasons. After that, he played at Arsenal, Werder Bremen, Portland Timbers and finally retired from football after playing in the inaugural edition of the Indian Super League (ISL) in 2014.
After retirement, he joined Ligue 1 club Rennes as their director of football but left the job in December 2016 by mutual consent.
Silvestre is currently a Director of Football with Sports Invest UK. He also a distillery business named Rhum St. Barth.
The South African international played at Manchester United from 1999 to 2006. Predominantly a midfielder, he could also play as a full-back.
Other than Manchester United, Fortune has played for clubs like Atletico Madrid and Bolton Wanderers. He retired from football in 2010 after spending a season at Doncaster Rovers.
In 2014, Fortune joined Cardiff City U21 side as their assistant coach. In 2019, the South African returned to Manchester United as an assistant coach of the club's U23 side, a job which he left in September 2020 to join Reading FC as their first-team coach.
The former Manchester United captain and a club legend, Keane joined the club in 1993 and played until 2005. After leaving the Red Devils, he played at Celtic for a season before retiring from professional football.
Immediately after retirement in 2006, Keane joined Sunderland as their manager who were playing in the Championship at that time. In 2009, Keane joined Ipswich town as their manager and remained at the club till 2011.
From 2013 to 2018, the midfielder worked as an assistant manager in the Republic of Ireland national team. In January 2019, he had joined Nottingham Forest as their assistant manager but left the job in June 2019.
He can be seen as TV pundit these days.
Another member of the Class of 92, Nicky Butt played the first 12 years of his career at Manchester United before leaving for Newcastle United in 2004. He played the last season of his professional career in Hong Kong, playing for South China and retired in 2011.
After retirement, Butt returned to Manchester United and joined the club as their first-team coach and worked till 2021. He left the job in March 2021.
A Manchester United academy graduate and a club legend, Paul Scholes, like Ryan Giggs, played at Manchester United throughout his life. After his retirement in 2013, Scholes along with the members of the Class of 92, Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt, Phil Neville and Gary Neville bought Salford City in 2014. In September they sold a 50 per cent stake to Singaporean businessman Peter Lim.
In 2015, Scholes along with Phil Neville became caretaker managers of Salford City. In 2017, he joined PVF Football Academy as their technical advisor.
The English became the manager of Oldham Athletic in February 2019 but left his role within a month. In October 2020, he took over as the interim manager of Salford but left in November after the appointment of Richie Vellen as the club's new coach.
The current Manchester United manager joined the club as a player from Molde in 1996 and played for the next 11 seasons before retiring from professional football in 2007.
After retiring, Solskjaer took over the Manchester United reserves side as their manager where he worked till 2011. After that, he worked as the manager of Molde for the next three seasons. He was in charge of Cardiff City in 2014 but left his role following a poor spell of form. He returned to Molde in 2015 and worked there for three more seasons.
In December 2018, after Jose Mourinho's sacking, the Norwegian returned to Manchester United this time as the manager of the senior team.
A one-club man and a legend at Manchester United played for the club for 24 years. Ryan Giggs is the most-capped Manchester United player of all time with 936 caps under his belt.
Giggs was appointed as the player-cum-interim manager of Manchester United in the final four matches of the 2013-14 season after David Moyes was sacked. It was also his final season as a professional footballer.
After retirement, he immediately became the assistant manager under Louis van Gaal and remained in that position for the next two seasons. In 2018, Giggs was appointed as the manager of the Wales national team a job which he quit in April 2021 due to personal reasons.
The legendary Dutch forward joined the Red Devils from PSV in 2001 and played there for five seasons before leaving for Real Madrid in 2006. In the final two seasons of his professional career, Ruud van Nistelrooy played at Hamburg and Malaga respectively before hanging up his boots in 2012. Nistelrooy was the assistant coach of the Netherlands national team between 2014 to 2016. He then joined PSV U19 side as their head coach in 2018 but then returned to the national team as an assistant coach in 2019. Most recently he was seen on the Dutch bench at the Euro 2020 as Frank de Boer's assistant.
The Portuguese superstar spent six seasons at Manchester United from 2003 to 2009. In 292 matches for the Red Devils, Ronaldo scored 118 goals. He won a host of trophies at United, including three Premier Leagues, one FA Cup and a Champions League title.
He left United to join Real Madrid in 2009 where he spent nine seasons before moving to Juventus.
The Cameroonian midfielder played at Manchester United for two seasons from 2003 to 2005. Djemba-Djemba later played at Aston Villa, Qatar SC and also in the inaugural season of the ISL for Chennaiyin FC in 2014.
He retired from football in 2016 after spending a season at French fifth-tier club Châteaubriant.
The Uruguay legend played at Manchester United for only two seasons between 2002 and 2004. He later played for clubs like Villarreal and Atletico Madrid. Towards the end of his, the striker played Mumbai City FC in the third season of the ISL in 2016. He then joined Hong Kong's Kitchee SC where he spent a season before retiring from professional football.
In 2019, Forlan joined Uruguayan club Penarol as their head coach but was sacked in September 2020. In 2021, he took charge of Club Atletico Atenas as their manager.