The Rojiblancos thought they had signed the Portuguese forward when he was a promising teenager after they received a signed document from an intermediary in Lisbon.
Long before he moved to Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo could have ended up at city rival and Champions League final opponent Atletico.
Circa 2000, the Rojiblancos received a signed document informing the club that a teenage Ronaldo and Ricardo Quaresma would be heading to the Vicente Caleron, a biography of super agent Jorge Mendes revealed.
The document was in possession of former Atletico president Jesus Gil and should have seen Ronaldo join the club from Sporting Clube de Portugal, according to the book The Keys to Mendes.