If you haven’t noticed yet, Cristiano Ronaldo is back in Manchester and is firing in the goals for United. The 36-year-old superstar sealed a sensational return to the club on deadline day earlier this month and has been in inspired form this season.
Ronaldo has scored four goals in as many games since he secured his second coming at Old Trafford, with his ‘second debut’ marked with two goals by the Portgual international. His return to the club comes 12 years after he completed a then world-record transfer to Real Madrid.
His transfer to the Old Trafford club will be remembered as one of the most iconic moments in football history and the man who engineered it, Sir Alex Ferguson, has now hailed Ronaldo’s return to Manchester United.
“It’s fantastic,” he is quoted as saying by the official Manchester United website. “You saw on that Saturday that it was like Caesar entering Rome after victory. I came, I saw, I conquered. It was fantastic.
“I mean, for anyone who is a United fan, we could have had a million people in there, without doubt, as there were so many outside, hundreds outside. It’s one of these things. When he was here as a kid, his learning process was very, very quick.”
The former Machester United manager also commented on an 18-year-old Ronaldo breaking into the star-studded dressing room at the club in 2003.
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“A lot of people said he was a diver and there was a little spell of that but, after that, he was attacking defenders and all he needed was a nudge and he would waltz by them. He would attack with unbelievable speed. I think the increasing knowledge of his game – I think he was born with a desire.
“He sacrificed himself to be the best. I remember we were playing Arsenal on the Saturday and it was pouring with rain at Carrington. I said to him, and you know he would always practice after training, and I said, ‘In. We’ve got a game tomorrow and it’s too wet. The ground is too soft.’
“So I went into my office, looked out of the window and what did he do? He went on the Astroturf. I had no argument! I couldn’t say anything to him. He’s beat me.”
That eagerness to win remains one of Ronaldo’s best traits and despite preparing to celebrate his 37th birthday in February, he showing no signs of slowing up just yet.
