Rio Ferdinand has recalled a pivotal moment in Cristiano Ronaldo’s career when Sir Alex Ferguson made him cry in the dressing room.
Ronaldo blossomed into one of the greatest players in football after joining Manchester United from Sporting CP in 2003 and has often credited Ferguson as one of the most important figures in his career.
Ronaldo scored 145 goals in 346 appearances across two spells at Old Trafford, but his time under Ferguson saw him transformed from a gifted but erratic winger into the best player in the world by 2009, when he left to join Real Madrid in a world-record transfer.
The Portugal star won three consecutive Premier League titles and the 2008 UEFA Champions League in that glittering spell with United, during which he also won the first of five career Ballons d’Or.
Always good to be with you boss! 🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/TP4bzkgDCz
— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) October 17, 2022
Ferdinand, who signed for United a year before Ronaldo’s arrival, remembers one particular incident in which Ferguson made it clear to the young forward that he would have to earn the right to be considered a “superstar”.
Indeed, the former England captain thinks Ferguson’s mastery of man-management is the reason Ronaldo came to be recognised as the finest player on the planet by the time he moved to Spain for ÂŁ80 million.
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Rio Ferdinand recalls Sir Alex Ferguson making Cristiano Ronaldo cry
Ferdinand was speaking to BBC Sport as part of a documentary entitled ‘Sir Alex’, which will be aired by the UK broadcaster on December 26.
“We’d been to Portugal and played a couple of games, and he hadn’t played well, Cristiano, because he was young, he tried too hard,” Ferdinand said.
“I remember we played Benfica, and the manager ripped into Cristiano. ‘Who d’you think you are? You’re coming in here trying to prove to everybody who you think you are, you think you’re a superstar’.
“And I remember Cristiano in tears in the changing room. And I was like, ‘This manager don’t care, man. He don’t care who you are’.
“But then look at the player that he became. He needed moments like that. And the manager knew that he could be soft and nice with him, but he had to be hard as well to get him to where he got to — the world’s best player when he left.”
