It was April 23, but in 2003: Manchester United and Real Madrid offered a memorable Champions League quarter-final second leg and Ronaldo’s hat-trick put an end to Fabien Barthez’s adventure with the Red Devils.
“When the opponent is so big, you have to stand up and applaud”, wrote the official account of the Champions League on Tuesday by publishing a video of Ronaldo “Il Fenomeno”. 21 years ago, on April 23, 2003, the world of football was delighted with a legendary Champions League quarter-final between Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United and Real Madrid of the Galacticos led by Zinédine Zidane. After a 3-1 victory at the Bernabéu, the Whites ended up losing 4-3 at Old Trafford to qualify for the final.
It was the Brazilian idol Ronaldo, Ballon d’Or in 1997 and 2002, who captivated the Mancunian public and who ended up being applauded by the 66,000 spectators when he left in the 67th minute. Before that, he opened the scoring with a cross shot (12th), gave Vicente Del Bosque’s men the lead on a serve from Roberto Carlos (51st) then scored a third goal for Fabien Barthez with a long shot ( 59th). What a recital! Two goals from David Beckham (71st and 84th) gave United an insufficient victory.
Barthez maintained number 1 in EDF
Barthez was already very contested in Ferguson’s group, especially after a rout on the previous Boxing Day, with a heavy 3-1 defeat on December 26, 2002 at Middlesbrough, with goals from Alen Boksic, Szilard Nemeth and Joseph-Désiré Job (three players who have played in the French D1). The “Divine Bald” (becoming “Fabulous Fab” across the Channel) was no longer in the odor of holiness. His Scottish boss has turned the page after this hat-trick from Ronaldo. Roy Carroll finished the season and American Tim Howard was recruited.
” In trouble “ in Manchester, as regretted The world At the time, however, Barthez had retained the confidence of Jacques Santini, the Blues coach, while Grégory Coupet was impeccable in the OL goals. The emblematic goalkeeper of the 98 world champions then made his return to OM in December 2003, finally retaining his place in the selection for Euro 2004 and even for the 2006 World Cup under the orders of Raymond Domenech.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoPIUSG-vcg
