Former Manchester United captain Rio Ferdinand has explained that determination to prove doubters wrong is what took Cristiano Ronaldo to the legendary status he occupies today.
When Ronaldo joined Manchester United in 2003, the Portuguese sensation was quick to make an impression in training with his feet and remarkable talent.
However, there was one player who was not pleased with Ronaldo’s style of play – Ruud van Nistelrooy appeared to have taken issue with the Portuguese trickery and expected more service in the box.
The Dutchman, no doubt, missed his supplier of balls – David Bechkam, who made passes and crosses readily available to him.
But, things soon changed when Ronaldo got into the frame.
The Portuguese also took pleasure in finding the back of the net; just like prime van Nistelrooy, who scored goals with reckless abandon.
As the saying goes, ‘two captains cannot be on the same ship’ so it rained fire and brimstones on Ronaldo as Rio Ferdinand revealed to BT Sport.
“It didn’t happen instantly but he [Ronaldo] was unbelievably skillful and he was there to entertain the crowd. He loved doing skills.
“He used to get snapped in training but I remember one time, I think it was a good moment for him but he didn’t take it too well. Ruud [Van Nistelrooy] was the man at United at the time. He was the man who scored all the goals.
“Ronaldo had the ball wide and was doing tricks and Ruud was making the run in the box, Ronaldo didn’t pass and Ruud went crazy, screaming. ‘He should be in the circus, he shouldn’t be on the pitch’ Ruud said and walked in, off the training pitch, and Ronaldo got upset and angry – ‘why is he talking to me like that?’ He was 18 or 19 at the time.”
But ‘CR7’ would persevere and outlasted van Nistelrooy at United.
Van Nistelrooy later joined Real Madrid in 2006 after a fall out with Sir Alex Ferguson, who decided to build his attack around young Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney.
“Some kids would’ve gone under and lost confidence,” the 42-year-old continued.
“Some would’ve kept doing the same but Ronaldo knew that Ruud might be right and then it became all about numbers, about statistics, goals.
“What is going to make him the best player in the world?
“We used to say to him, take the mic out of him and say ‘you are not the real No 7 at the club, you’ve got George Best and [David] Beckham’ and you could see him thinking, ‘how can I derail them?’
“About mindset, I don’t know a stronger, more determined, obsessed player that I’ve shared a changing room with,” Ferdinand said.
“I was fortunate to watch him go from a boy to a man over a few years and him affecting training sessions. He was absolutely obsessed winning a training session and scoring the last goal.”
