Nemanja Vidic on Cristiano Ronaldo joining Real Madrid: Former Manchester United defender Nemanja Vidic opened up about his former colleague Cristiano Ronaldo joining Real Madrid. Vidic and Ronaldo were teammates at Manchester United before the latter joined the Spanish Giants in 2009.
Cristiano and Vidic were part of the Red Devils that dominated England under the managerial-ship of legendary Sir. Alex Ferguson. They won many titles together, including the UEFA Champions League in 2008. Ronaldo also won the Ballon d’Or that year, the only one he won outside Real Madrid.
Ronaldo joined Man United in 2004 from Portuguese club Sporting Lisbon. United, who had lost David Beckham to Real Madrid in the summer of 2023, were on the hunt to find a star to replace the fashion icon. That’s when the English side met Ronaldo’s Lisbon in a pre-season friendly. The Portuguese starred in the match and made his team win against the Old Trafford side that had legendary players like Paul Scholes, Rio Ferdinand, Roy Keane, etc. Alex Ferguson didn’t think twice and landed Ronaldo, and the rest is history.
“I didn’t expect he was going to do that well for that long”: Nemanja Vidic on Cristiano Ronaldo joining Real Madrid
Vidic remembers everything like yesterday. He recalls how Ronaldo used to showcase a lot of tricks on the ground rather than focusing on scoring goals in his initial seasons. But later, the player transformed himself to become the best goal scorer the world has ever seen.
“If you remember, when Cristiano Ronaldo first came to Manchester United, he was a bit like Berbatov. He likes to entertain (on the pitch), play good football, show tricks, and dribble players. His priority was not scoring goals. But in the last two years of his career at United, he totally changed,” Vidic said on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast.
“I thought he was ready to go to Madrid, and I was definitely sure that he was going to do well. But I didn’t expect he was going to do that well for so many years,” he added
After Ronaldo went to Real Madrid, he grew to be a player that no one could compete with. He won four Ballon d’Or and four UEFA Champions League titles and a number of other titles, including two La Liga’s with the Santiago Bernabeu side. He later went to Juventus in 2018 and then went back to Manchester United before joining Saudi Pro League’s Al Nasser in 2023.
The 39-year-old all-time great is not showing any signs of slowing down as he continues to score goals and break records in world football.
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