Best version of Cristiano Ronaldo? When CR7 ‘killed’ teams as former Man Utd team-mate Anderson explains what made Portuguese GOAT ‘different’

Ronaldo first moved to England as a precociously-gifted teenager in 2003, as Sir Alex Ferguson prised his obvious potential away from Sporting. He was a fleet-footed winger at that stage, with his game all about fancy flicks and bamboozling stepovers.

The Red Devils polished a rough diamond into the most fearsome goalscorer that world football has ever seen, with the evergreen frontman fast closing in on 1,000 competitive efforts over the course of a quite breathtaking career.

It was between 2006 and 2009 that he truly burst into life, with the 20-goal mark being passed for the first time. Ronaldo has not dipped below that mark across two decades when spending a full season at any given club - from Manchester to Riyadh via Madrid and Turin.

Records have been broken on a regular basis, with club and country, as title triumphs have been enjoyed in the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A and Saudi Pro League, while also picking up five Champions League crowns, a handful of Ballons d’Or, a couple of Nations Leagues and the European Championship. He has reached 234 caps and 146 goals for Portugal, while forever being locked in a battle for individual supremacy with eternal rival Lionel Messi.

Ronaldo is not ready to bow out just yet, ahead of turning 42 in February 2027, and believes that he still has plenty to offer at the highest level. That has always been his mindset, with unwavering self belief having carried him to the very top of the global game.

Asked what makes CR7 “different” and when he first spotted those qualities, ex-United midfielder Anderson - who was speaking in association with Swiper Casino Canada - told GOAL: “If you take Cristiano Ronaldo from 2008 to 2009, when he won the best player with Manchester United. You take Cristiano Ronaldo, not just the games, it's about training, starting all the process before the match. Because when you finish training, you see Cristiano Ronaldo alone in the building, trying to do his skills, trying to do this and that.

“Because that time, Cristiano Ronaldo is different than Cristiano Ronaldo now. He is completely different. Because Cristiano Ronaldo at that time, he killed the players. He takes a one against one, he killed the players.

“I know, when I play in the middle, Cristiano Ronaldo out wide will be one against one. I don't need to see. I just throw the ball directly to his leg, he is going to take the player. That Manchester United attack, you know you are going to score.

“Some games are like, you start to lose 1-0, 2-0. Don't worry, Cristiano Ronaldo will go. Because you know what the best players can do. I know Cristiano Ronaldo is the best one against one. I know Nani is the best one against one.

“I think that year, I think Cristiano Ronaldo won the most, the top years of his career. He did amazing for Real Madrid. But that time, I think he is like an unbelievable player. I enjoy seeing Cristiano Ronaldo one against one, taking free kicks everywhere. Against Arsenal, the semi-final against Arsenal, Cristiano Ronaldo played ridiculous good. He was amazingly good that game. He was, before the match, saying, ‘OK, don't worry, we are going to win the match’.

“That was the mentality of that team at that time, 2008-2013-14. The mentality is to kill, to kill the team. He was very scary to play against us. At that time, he was out to kill the other teams.”

Ronaldo hit 42 goals in the 2007-08 campaign, and 26 the following year - earning him a first Ballon d’Or and a big-money transfer to Real Madrid. There has been almost no stopping him from there, with remarkable feats of brilliance being delivered on a regular basis.

His powers are now considered to be on the wane, having dropped to the bench prior to leaving the latest Portugal camp, but he has made a career out of silencing critics and turning doubters into believers - with that process having first begun at the so-called ‘Theatre of Dreams’.