Picture Credit: Instagram
Jesse Lingard has shared incredible throwback pictures of himself with Cristiano Ronaldo. He coupled them along with an image from Manchester United's most recent Premier League match against Newcastle United which marked Ronaldo's second debut for the Red Devils. A collage of such pictures showed how far Lingard himself has come.
While he could be seen as a starstruck kid alongside Ronaldo in the first set of pictures, another picture showed the duo celebrating together against Newcastle. Both scored at Old Trafford and contributed to United's win. The duo's reunion on the pitch happened 18 years after the two had first met at the club when Jesse was a growing kid in the United's academy while Ronaldo was in his early years of professional football.
Pictures and even a few videos of the now 28-year-old, who was just a child dreaming big, observing Ronaldo's skills with the ball on the pitch have gone viral. Lingard, who had joined the United's youth academy as a seven-year-old has shared an inspirational message on social media along with the picture after he turned out for United in the same senior side as his growing-up hero.
"Dream big kids ❤️ #jlingz #cr7," he wrote.
Check out the picture here:
Talking about the match, while Ronaldo started for the club and scored a superb brace, thanks to his anticipation and awareness on the pitch, Lingard too stepped off the bench on Sunday in the second half and managed to get his name on the scoresheet with a stoppage-time goal to seal the match 4-1 in United's favour. The Englishman had a reasonably good loan spell with the West Ham last season which has helped him earn the trust of United boss Ole Gunner Solskjaer for this season.
Post a Player of the Match performance on his second debut, Ronaldo admitted to being nervous but thanked the fans for their reception.
"I was really nervous, maybe I did not show it," said Ronaldo.
"The reception was incredible. I was thinking last night that I wanted to show I'm still capable of helping the team. When I started the game, I was super nervous when they were singing my name but this crowd is unbelievable," he added.