"We couldn't do anything" - Defender explains how Cristiano Ronaldo 'destroyed' him on Manchester United debut

It's been more than 20 years since Cristiano Ronaldo made his Manchester United debut against Bolton Wanderers back in 2003. The Portuguese teenager came on as a late substitute for Nicky Butt during the Premier League clash at Old Trafford.

Ronaldo gave the world a glimpse of his spectacular talent as he won a penalty and also played a crucial role in another of the goals. His dazzling array of his skills were on full display.

Nicky Hunt, the Bolton defender in charge of man-marking Ronaldo during the game, spoke about how the youngster's introduction changed the course of the match. He said (via A Bola Portugal):

"When [ Ronaldo ] came in, my first thought was not 'I'm screwed, it's going to kill me'. We had a good 70 minutes. We were just 0-1 down and for me he was just another player. My job was to go there and disarm him. And that's what I did. I swept it twice. After that ... he destroyed me!"

Hunt further said that the hype around Cristiano Ronaldo's debut was similar to that of Diego Maradona. He said:

"We were trying to prepare our first game and there was madness around an 18-year-old kid, almost as if he were Maradona. We tried to ignore it, but it just got bigger and bigger. It was in all the newspapers, on the television programs. It was impossible to ignore."

He added:

"Anyone connected with football would be lying if they said they didn't look that way when he went to warm up. When I saw him, he was incredibly thin. I was skinny, but he was even skinnier. Black hair with blonde highlights, full of acne. We were thinking 'he's too young, he must not be as good as they say'. But it was."

Hunt concluded that then Bolton manager Sam Allardyce wasn't upset by the defeat as he recognized that the course of the match changed after the 70th minute. Hunt added:

"It was something surreal for me. All day. It was my debut in front of so many people. I was devastated by the defeat, but Sam [ Allardyce, Bolton manager] didn't seem upset after the game. He said we were in the game until the 75th minute. As players, we sat and looked at each other. The deputy shrugged his arms and smiled. We all knew what happened in the last 15 minutes. We couldn't do anything."

Cristiano Ronaldo remains a Manchester United legend despite tumultuous end to second spell

Cristiano Ronaldo's second Manchester United spell didn't end the way he would have wanted it to. The Portuguese fell out with Erik ten Hag and his explosive interview with Piers Morgan was the final nail in the coffin.

Despite the manner of the exit, Cristiano Ronaldo remains a bonafide club legend. He scored 145 goals and provided 64 assists in 346 matches across two spells for the Manchester club.

The Portuguese won 10 trophies with the Red Devils, including three Premier League titles and one UEFA Champions League.