"Refuses to ever let his standards drop" - Ex-Manchester United coach explains how Cristiano Ronaldo's ego has been key to his success
Cristiano Ronaldo is standing tall at 39, plying his trade far from Europe. He might have left European football, but his records and statistics in the region's football have left an everlasting impact on not only fans but also upcoming footballers.
The Portuguese icon now plays for Al-Nassr (since January 2023). He has scored 71 goals and delivered 17 assists in 78 appearances across all competitions. But how does he manage to still continue at such a top level even at this age? His former coach at Manchester United, Rene Meulensteen, sheds light on the same.
Speaking to BoyleSports, Meulensteen, who was a part of Sir Alex Ferguson's coaching staff, said:
"It’s true that Cristiano Ronaldo’s ego has been the key to his lasting success and that’s in a good way, he refuses to ever let his standards drop. He would never turn up to training and give anything less than his maximum effort and you can see that is still the same now at 39 years of age."
Meulensteen further spoke about Ronaldo's grit. The coach has elucidated how the Portugal national team skipper never lets his standards go down. He mentioned:
"He’d never even sprint at 70%, he is all or nothing and has worked so hard on the pitch as well as on his brand, he has a billion followers and he can do whatever he wants next. He does everything to the best of his ability and always pushes his own standards forward.”
Cristiano Ronaldo is an icon for modern footballers
Yesterday (October 3), the Champions League's Instagram account shared a video where Erling Haaland, Virgil van Dijk, Kevin De Bruyne and other footballers shared what first came to their mind when they hear Champions League. The name uttered by each of them was Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Portuguese legend is till date the highest goal-scorer in the Champions League with 140 goals. Out of this, 17 goals came in a single edition - 2013-14 season. Moreover, he has scored 105 of these goals in Real Madrid colors, making him the club's highest scorer in the Champions League too.
In between the 2007-08 and 2017-18 season, Cristiano Ronaldo managed to emerge as the top scorer of the competition on seven occasions. Adding to that, he has scored in three finals, a feat unmatched; leaving aside that he has lifted the trophy on five occasions - once for Manchester United and four times when he was at Real Madrid.