Ronaldo came from Portugal as this young talented winger who could get past defenders with pure ease. He would almost look to humiliate them on several instances with his flashy skills and nimble feet.
He was an entertainer of sorts and the end product sometimes took a back seat so when there was a training session Ronaldo who was a teenager at that time was absolutely berated by his fellow Manchester United teammate Ruud Van Nistelrooy.
“It didn’t happen instantly but he was unbelievably skillful and he was there to entertain the crowd. He loved doing skills,” Ferdinand told BT Sports.
This sheds light on the kind of elite mentality that it takes for any sportsman to make it to the top of his game and moreover to stay there for such a prolonged period of time. Ronaldo has been on the stage since forever and has matured with age. His focus is now mostly on getting into better goal scoring positions and finding vacant spaces to help the team out. He has also become a leader figure with age who is always encouraging those around him to do better in every situation.
Sometimes it takes a word, an incident, or sentence to change your life completely. That moment can either make or break you depending on how you choose to take it but Ronaldo proved once again why he has been at the summit for so long. Over the years many people, coaches, and players who have played alongside Cristiano Ronaldo have talked about his mentality and resolute will and that incident on the training ground may have well been the catalyst for his meteoric rise.
