'They were opposites!' - Former Man Utd midfielder opens up on rivalry between Ruud van Nistelrooy and Cristiano Ronaldo which led to collision course at Old Trafford

Prolific Dutch striker Van Nistelrooy – who is currently filling interim manager duties at Old Trafford – was on the Red Devils’ books when Ronaldo first arrived in England as an exciting teenager in 2003. Few could have predicted at that stage what he would become, with the Portuguese now a five-time Ballon d’Or winner with a standing among the all-time greats safely secured.

At the start of his career, CR7 was a fleet-footed winger that favoured tying opponents up in knots with his tricks over registering a record-breaking tally of goals. Team-mates and coaching staff at United quickly set about nudging him down a different path.

Van Nistelrooy formed part of that process, with it previously revealed that he handed out some rough treatment to Ronaldo that left the youngster in tears. Kleberson - speaking to Unibet, the home of football odds – has now added on the in-house friction: “It’s not something that I saw, but those two were opposites. Ruud wanted to get the ball and shoot and Cristiano at that time wanted to get the ball and enjoy it, he wanted to have fun with the ball. It was part of his learning, and when he learned to play with the team, you saw how it helped the team.

“Ruud is the guy who knew the more chances that he had, the more chances he was going to score and I think he tried to talk with Cristiano to give him more opportunities to score goals, but off course he would get upset – but he’d get upset with everyone who wouldn’t pass the ball to him!”

United’s methods worked, with Ronaldo being moulded into an elite frontman that remains all about end product at 39 years of age. Kleberson added on his legendary former team-mate: “I believe that the group that we had at that time was perfect for Ronaldo – we had a great manager, great support from his family and team-mates, great quality in the team and he was growing.

“He had a lot of quality with free-kicks, dribbling, shooting, heading even when he was young but then he just exploded. Ruud would take two touches in the box, but Cristiano would probably come from a bit deeper, being so fast and technical.”

There has been talk of Ronaldo potentially emulating Van Nistelrooy by retracing steps to Old Trafford as a coach once the day comes for him to retire. Said career move will not be happening any time soon as the Portuguese GOAT - who is still going strong at Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr - intends to reach 1,000 goals before calling it quits.