Revealed: Cristiano Ronaldo's surprise penalty advice to Anthony Elanga at Man Utd as Nottingham Forest star sets out to deal former club another major blow in FA Cup

The 21-year-old was sold to Nottingham Forest ahead of the 2023-24 season after he failed to gain manager Erik ten Hag's trust at Old Trafford. Now, the winger is on a mission to prove a point to his former club as he gears up to face them in a fifth round FA Cup tie on Wednesday.

Elanga has also revealed a key piece of advice that Ronaldo shared with him while they were at Old Trafford together in the 2021-22 season.

Speaking to The Times, the Sweden international recalled spending time with the greats of the game like Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic as he said: "They are easily approachable, I enjoyed working with them and I think they enjoyed working with me. I’ve always been someone who wants to find that extra percentage to improve. Having Ronaldo come in, I tried to take some chapters out of his book and try and form it into mine.

"There was a time when I missed a penalty [against Middlesbrough in the FA Cup] and after that, he kept speaking to me and telling me, ‘It’s not the end of the world, I’ve missed loads before and you’ve shown character and professionalism taking one at your age.’ I took that on board and that’s really helpful."

On facing his former team again, Elanga added: "For me, it’s about showing I can do it against any team. Especially coming up against your old team you want to show them even more that you can do it. I feel I need to keep in my lane and keep doing what I’m doing. The people on the outside don’t know me so I don’t listen to the external noise. I just stay inside and try and keep improving."

The Red Devils' five-match winning streak across all competitions came to an end last weekend when they went down 2-1 against Fulham in the Premier League. The last time they faced Forest was on December 30 in a league clash, and Elanga played a starring role as Nuno Espirito Santo's side ran out 2-1 winners.

Ten Hag's men will eye revenge over Nuno Espirito Santo's side in their midweek FA Cup clash. After that, United are set to take on rivals Manchester City in an important Premier League fixture on Sunday.