B/R
Manchester United flew into Lisbon at the end of a three-week pre-season tour of the United States in early August 2003. The English club landed in the Portuguese capital to play Sporting Lisbon in a match to inaugurate the new Jose Alvalade Stadium. Unbeknown to the United squad, their club was also in town to conclude one of the most important transfers in its history.
As United's players settled in their hotel to get in a broken night's sleep before the game, their manager Alex Ferguson went for dinner in a restaurant outside Lisbon with a couple of Sporting's directors and Cristiano Ronaldo's agent, Jorge Mendes.