Rio Ferdinand has been paying tribute to Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo after he scored his 700th club goal at the weekend.
The superstar struck the winning goal against Everton, finally bringing a positive development to what has been a tough season for him so far.
Ronaldo will undoubtedly use this milestone as further motivation to kick on, confidence lifted, setting himself new targets to aim at. This is what has helped make him such a great player.
Rio Ferdinand talks about Ronaldo in training
Speaking to Five on YouTube, Ferdinand spoke about how Cristiano Ronaldo used to consistently be the decisive factor in Manchester United training sessions, even among a star-studded squad featuring Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez.
Ferdinand said: “In training he was just winning games. He would score the winner most games. He was mad.
“He had Gary Neville on a bit of string, and Phil Neville. He was deciding games in training, if Ronaldo got the ball, ‘you got to get there to stop him’.
“He just built himself up to be a machine to be decisive, clinical. As the years went by he became so much more efficient in his decision making.”
Ronaldo transformed himself from a talented, flashy winger lacking productivity when he joined the club, into a mega-star, one of the most prolific scorers ever to play the game.
Real Madrid enjoyed the best out of Ronaldo after he left United, but only after he had won three consecutive Premier League titles and a Champions League.
Ronaldo has spent the last two decades playing at the highest level, and his frustrations with United in the summer all boiled down to missing out on the Champions League this season.
If he is patient and buys into the Erik ten Hag project, he might end up back in the Champions League next season. The early signs suggest United are in with a chance – although the outcome of a tough next stretch against Newcastle, Tottenham and Chelsea will give us a clearer idea.
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