As Sir Alex Ferguson prepares to welcome back Cristiano Ronaldo to Old Trafford, he has hailed the Portuguese players as one of the best players to have worn the Real Madrid colours.
Ronaldo completed a world record £80m move from Manchester United in 2009 and has gone on to break records at the Santiago Bernabeu. Ferguson is hoping they can keep him quiet when both sides clash in the Round of 16 of the Champions League.
“Florentino Perez had all the Galacticos at Real Madrid when he was president first time around,” Ferguson told reporters. “He had [Luis] Figo, Zidane, Roberto Carlos, Raul in that spell. But I don’t think any of those players were as good as Ronaldo.
“Zidane was a fantastic player, Figo was a fantastic player. But not as good as Ronaldo. So I think Mourinho’s team are still living up to the reputation that Real Madrid can produce the top players.
“Ronaldo has beaten all the records there. He’s beaten [Alfred] Di Stefano, [Ferenc] Puskas, Hugo Sanchez. So obviously he is indelibly printed in their history now.
“You have to say he is pivotal to all they do – 179 goals in 178 matches tells its own story. I think I might have to think about blackmail. I might have to tell a true story about him!
“He’s a fantastic player. I knew he would improve tremendously, he was still young when he left us.”
Ferguson also revealed that one of the secrets of Ronaldo’s success, is dedication to training, apart from his undoubted quality and suggested they should have made Madrid pay more for his services.
“He would practise half-an-hour after every training session,” he added. “It was a simple route to becoming a complete footballer. The more you practise the better you become, and it became a habit for him.
“I told them upstairs [the Glazers]. We should have asked for €175m; we probably would have got it.”
The Scot also ruled out the chances of re-signing the 28-year-old, stating that: “You are talking hundreds of millions; I don’t see it.”
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