José Alvalade Stadium

This guide to Jose Alvalade Stadium in Lisbon centers on a single evening, August 6th, 2003, when Sporting CP opened this arena with a friendly against Manchester United. It follows an eighteen-year-old academy player wearing number twenty-eight, signed from Madeira years earlier, as he lines up against United's defense with nobody expecting much drama. You'll hear how the match unfolded on the pitch and what United's players were doing in the dressing room afterward. It's a story about a stadium's very first night, told through the ninety minutes that made it memorable.