Revealed: How Cristiano Ronaldo reacted to Man Utd team-mates ‘taking the p*ss’ out of him – with Portuguese superstar given rough treatment

The Portuguese superstar arrived in England as a tricky winger in 2003, with there plenty for the teenager to learn in order for obvious potential to be fulfilled. Those around him quickly set about kicking a hot prospect into shape, quite literally at times, but the future Ballon d’Or winner never backed down.

Ronaldo is famed for his work ethic, with that relentless drive enhanced amid some rough treatment in Manchester. He responded in the best possible way, with a man that has gone on to become an all-time great refusing to walk away from any kind of challenge.

Fortune, who was on United’s books when Ronaldo first arrived, has told 1337 Games of how a rough diamond was polished into becoming “the best”: “Everyone was kicking Ronnie, but everyone was kicking everyone! Ronnie was no different, tackles were flying in before Ronnie came so it was a normal thing, that’s just how we trained. It wasn’t suddenly ‘today I’m gonna kick Ronaldo’, if it was a 50-50, you’re gonna win the ball, simple as that! But Ronaldo when he came, he obviously came from Portugal where it’s a different style off play, a different culture and you get pushed off the ball, you dive; and that wasn’t the culture at United. So, he quickly learned ‘Hold on, I can’t dive here, I can’t fake whatever’, and the boys were aggressive against him because they wanted him to be better.”

Fortune added: “Did he take up that challenge personally? Oh my God, the guy went to the gym every day, to train harder – that was all the guys, nothing to do with us pushing him off the ball. If we pushed Scholesy off the ball we’d say ‘Scholesly you got weighted’, and he’d kick the sh*t out of you two seconds later! He’d kick the crap out of you and you wouldn’t even see him coming! But Ronaldo took that personally; ‘oh you’re gonna take the p*ss out of me? Okay!’ He went away and a couple of months later he came back with the most ridiculous body you’d ever imagine. That was his mindset anyway; he wanted to be the best.”

Ronaldo won his first Ballon d’Or and Champions League crown with United, before leaving for Real Madrid as part of a record-breaking transfer in 2009. He returned to Old Trafford in 2021, but that reunion did not play out as planned and he is now on the books of Saudi Pro League outfit Al-Nassr – where he is showing no sign of slowing down at the age of 39.