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Former striker reveals how Manchester United training ground ploy helped shape Cristiano Ronaldo
09.08.2023 - 21:19 / manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Former Manchester United player Alan Smith has revealed how the 'close attention' paid to Cristiano Ronaldo during training sessions after he first joined the club helped shape the player who would go on to win five Ballon d'Or awards.
Ronaldo's first stint at Old Trafford began in 2003 when he joined from Sporting Lisbon. During his first six years at the club under Sir Alex Ferguson, the Portuguese icon won the Ballon d'Or, UEFA's Best Player in Europe, United's Footballer of the Year three times, the Champions League, three Premier Leagues, the FA Cup, two League Cups and the Club World Cup.
These astonishing achievements at United led to him earning a move to Real Madrid where he would add further honours and form a rivalry with Barcelona legend Lionel Messi. Asked to reflect on his ex-teammate's career, Smith claimed United's training sessions helped shape the Portugal star.
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He told the Gambling Zone: "Cristiano Ronaldo was used to players going in hard on him, it probably helped him. I was starting at the club during his second year and he had such a rapid rise.
"It was probably down to him getting used to the close attention he got in training and on match days. You saw him develop his physicality.
"Within the club, you don’t want to injure teammates but it was always competitive, just never to a point of risking injury to someone."
Ronaldo would return to United in 2021 but his second stint was less successful than the first and following a controversial interview with Piers Morgan he departed United in
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