Very rarely did Sir Alex Ferguson fail to get his way at Manchester United, but back in the summer of 2009, that's exactly what transpired.
Having nurtured and transformed Cristiano Ronaldo from a scrawny teenager to the most sought-after star in world football, the legendary Scot was left to reluctantly accept the Portuguese sensation was moving on to pastures new. But not just anywhere, to Real Madrid - a club Ferguson insisted he "wouldn't sell a virus" to.
The Spanish giants had piled pressure on Ronaldo and United for well over a year prior to his transfer as they relentlessly pursued the Premier League's most prolific asset. And though Ferguson fought to bat away the La Liga side's incessant advances, he would eventually see his resistance broken.
"You get used to Madrid's performances on these things," Ferguson rebuked in response to the Spanish club's attempts to stir things up a year prior to Ronaldo's eventual departure. "[Real president, Ramon] Calderon's talking, [the coach, Bernd] Schuster's talking, they use Marca as their vehicle to unsettle players.
"The simple fact of the matter is Ronaldo has got another four years left on his contract and Calderon makes the great statement, 'slavery was abolished many, many years ago'. Did they tell Franco that? Jesus Christ! Eh, give me a break!
"Great clubs, clubs with great morals like Barcelona, have far better moral issues than Real Madrid will ever have. They must be interested in Ronaldo but they are not saying so.
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"Do you not think we have had interest from the big clubs in Europe about our best players? Of course. But they don't get into the nonsense that Madrid get into. They have no moral issues at all.
"They think that they can ride roughshod over everyone but they won't do it with us. We sold them [Ruud] Van Nistelrooy and [David] Beckham because we wanted to."
Weeks later, Ferguson reaffirmed his stance after revealing he'd sought the support of the club's owners, the Glazers, who backed the United boss to stand firm. With regard to Real Madrid, Ferguson vowed "not to give in to these people".
"I've had a couple of meetings with the Glazers," he declared. "Their attitude is, 'To hell with them'. They'd sit a player in the stand, I'm telling you, absolutely no doubt about it, just to prove a point. Not to give in to these people. They've got balls, I can tell you."
Needless to say, gone were the days when Ferguson was willing to do business with the side from the Spanish capital. But his attempts to retain Ronaldo would soon suffer an unforessen setback just weeks on from the Scot's extraordinary rant.
After Ferguson reported Real to FIFA over their perilous pursuit of United's Portuguese superstar - a report which was subsequently rejected - the player himself added fuel to an already raging fire : Ronaldo publicly expressed his desire to play for Real Madrid.
United's No.7 later apologised for his remarks in an already tumultuous transfer tug-of-war as the summer came and went without his sale been sanctioned. But tensions continued to bubble under and Ferguson continued to fume.
When the subject was brought up again in December, the United boss blasted: "You don't think we'd get into a contract with that mob, do you? Jesus Christ. I wouldn't sell them a virus."
And the mind games continued long into the New Year. Following Real Madrid's particularly high-profile El Clasico defeat in May, the smug Scot stated: "After Barcelona battered Real Madrid 6-2 our players were telling Cristiano that if he goes to the Bernabéu, he'll have to play centre-half."
Despite Ferguson and his squad doing all they could to dissuade Ronaldo for departing for Real, United's resistance was broken in the summer of 2009. On June 11, the Red Devils revealed they had indeed agreed to sell to the Spanish giants for a then world- record fee of £80million as the 24-year-old winger reasserted his intentions of leaving Old Trafford. The decision was taken solely by Ferguson, according to a spokesperson for the Glazer family.
And so, one of football's most unsavoury transfer sagas was brought to an end. But Ferguson refused to bury the hatchet. "I am not saying that Real Madrid will get relegated but they will still have plenty of problems with balance," the bitter Scot stated later that same summer.
"I do not know how [Madrid coach] Manuel Pellegrini plans to pick his side because it has no balance. I told Ronaldo before he flew out that he will end up playing centre-half because I don't think they have one.
After securing a dream move to the Spanish capital, Ronaldo went on claim a whopping 15 trophies with Real Madrid as he smashed all manner of records, including one which saw him become the club's all-time top goalscorer. It's fair to say moving to Madrid was a decision he wouldn't come to regret.
