Ronaldo’s Teammates Share Stories About His Discipline and Work Ethic

In my mind, I'm always the best. I don't care what the people are thinking, what they say, in my mind, I'm always the best. Cristiano Ronaldo is the most professional player I ever played with. He was the one, if we are training at 10, he will be here at 8. He was the last to leave the training ground. He's a machine. He doesn't want to lose anything. I tell this story about the tennis table and Rio Ferdinand, you know, they play like a tennis table and Rio Ferdinand beat Cristiano, everyone was laughing. So, two weeks later, Cristiano bought a tennis table, he practiced and he said, I will do my revenge. And we said, come on Cristiano, don't embarrass yourself, you lost last time. And he played and he beat Rio. Ronaldo was the biggest example of someone that, from the outside you think, God-given talent, doesn't need to work hard, just turns up on a football pitch, looks a million dollars and just goes out there. Well, there was one day I mapped out a day in the life of Ronaldo. And in the day of Ronaldo, there was only an hour in the day where he was coached. The rest of it was himself driven, getting to training early, doing his weights, doing his abdominals, doing his massage, going home, employing a chef to look after his nutrition, going to bed for three hours in an afternoon. When you see him doing the stepovers, after every training session, training session finished, extra training, then he would take a ball around the whole circumference of Carrington Training Ground, doing his stepovers, jogging pace, walking pace, drag bikes, step bikes, cruise. And that was like 3K round the training ground, day before the game he would do it. And people say, oh, God-given talent, no, the most mentally tough player I've ever played with. The discipline of Cristiano is unbelievable. I never see this every day. You know, some days you get like, oh, I'm okay, yo. He doesn't miss one day, his discipline. No, it's like he's a professional, we're all professional. But the discipline to do it every single day, nonstop, this is something else. It never satisfies him what he's done. He always wants more because he always says, I can do more, I will do more. His motivation is crazy. It's like every day is a new record, is a new challenge for him, every single day. What I'm telling you is programmed. Sleep, the rest, recovery, the pool, massage, I never see this. I don't know a stronger, more determined, obsessed player that I'd share the changing room with because he was just phenomenal. I was very fortunate to sit there and watch him go from a boy to a man, even from just training, affecting training sessions. Being the match winner in training, absolutely obsessive winning a game in training and being the one that scores the last goal. He came as a kid, left as the best player in the world. I remember when I came to the club, how he looked as a boy, he was skinny. He was someone who was always trying to do the skills and tricks and how he developed over the years. How he trained, willing to sacrifice everything to achieve his dreams. I think that's an example for the young generations. I think what you see Cristiano on Instagram, all flashy stuff, I think he earned it, he deserved it to have all those. But in his age, when he was 18, 19, 20, 21, to have that mentality, to work hard, to don't go out, to fight for your dream. And the way he did it, I think he deserved everything he got. You've just got to take your hat off to him because despite him being naturally, of course, he's brilliant. But he has managed to work his way through sheer guts, sheer drive, dedication. Still to this day, gets in before everyone else, leaves after them, his diet, everything about him is professional. I remember going over to Madrid to present him with the Ballon d'Or on the pitch. I got given a tour of the new training ground and it was about 7 o'clock at night. I was walking around, one person and one physio in the dressing room at the time as I was getting the tour round. And he was getting a massage and doing all the stretches and doing all his routine at about 7 o'clock at night. I remember one of the conversations with him in the gym. Yeah, now I really want to become the best player in the world. So yeah, Ronnie said, there's a lot of people who say that. No, no, no, I really want it. That's like, okay, what are you going to do about it? Yeah, everything. One of the funniest stories I find always, I told a lot of people already after training. I told him I want to take some of my free kicks. I said, Ronnie, take the second or third goalkeeper. I'm 37. Come on, let's take one of the other guys. I'm tired. No, no, no, no. Come on. I want to score against the best. Yeah, but Ronnie, you're not going to score. So what's another point? No, no, come on. You're getting a goal. And of course, then he had the free kick and the position and the stance and the ball that floated. But he always wanted to end it with a goal. So it's not even whatever, that I save one. Okay, it's finished. But he always wanted to end it with a goal. I said, Ronnie, I want to also have a good feeling of going into the game. It's not only about you. And of course, it's always been about him. I think a lot of it is not natural ability for a man. But as brilliant as he is, I think it's just sheer hard work, determination, desire. Today for the goal. Courage. He's got a lot of courage. He wants to get in there. He's brave. I've said it before. The guy's a genius. You once went for lunch with him at Manchester United. I think you were going to have a gentle lunch. And it turned out to be a very competitive afternoon. Exactly. I think we should stay at the training ground. He said, let's go. And having a lunch after training. Go to his house. It was few people on the table. I look at it. It was just some salad. Plain white chicken. No juice. Just water. So we have food. Quickly a lunch. And after that, he said, let's go in the garden and play two-touch. I said, Cristiano, we just finished. So we go playing two-touch. After that, let's go for a swim. After that, let's have a sauna, jacuzzi. I was like, Cristiano, why we didn't stay at the training ground? So that's why I said, Cristiano deserves everything he got right now. Everyone wants to be Cristiano, but I give you the map. You think you will do that? It's difficult. The discipline. The discipline is the most difficult thing. Not only in the sport, but in the life. Do you ever wake up and you're saying, I don't want to play? I fight against my mind. Yes, sometimes it happens. We are all human beings. We are not happy every day. We are not in a good mood every day. It's normal. It's part of us. I fight against that. It's the big challenge. It's when you're not willing to do something, but you have to do it. This is the main point. This is why I say our mind, it's a box of surprises. And you have to challenge yourself to be consistent. I repeat, sometimes it's hard. It's what many people say. You like to go to the gym every day. Of course not. It's not true. Nobody likes to go to the gym every day. But you have to do it. Because your mental strength is coming from that. From that moment, that in a hard moment, you know you should do it. After that, maybe in the beginning you feel hard to start. But after, when you finish the gym or even the training, you will feel better.