It’s always a luxury when you are playing alongside Cristiano Ronaldo. The former Manchester United star has become one of the most iconic soccer players of all time, with his teammates relying on him to deliver during crunch situations. However, it wasn’t always the same. United legend Gary Neville discussed his frustrations with a younger Cristiano back during his early days at Old Trafford. I mean who wouldn’t if you had just played with a prime David Beckham and was now tasked with playing a Portuguese youngster?

Talking with Liverpool star Trent Alexander-Arnold on the latest episode of ‘The Overlap’, Gary Neville and the Reds defender discussed Neville’s experience playing alongside Cristiano Ronaldo in his come-up years. The United legend had a somewhat surprising reply as he stated, “Ronaldo came in, he was quite like that [shows his little finger]. Quite scrawny, not developed his body. His decision-making was quite erratic. You know, if he should have crossed it, he dribbled. If he should have dribbled, he crossed it.”

Neville then continued, “He (Cristiano Ronaldo) always, to be fair, frustrated the players in the middle because he had to cross it cause they made the run, and then he turns back and you get down. He was all over the place, and like, I actually lost faith in him. Not just that he wasn’t delivering in an attacking sense, but he actually didn’t run back that much.”

The Manchester United legend further claimed he used to have a lot of help with his role when David Beckham played above him. However, with Cristiano Ronaldo failing to track back and support the defense, he at times struggled with the team’s decision to let Beckham move to Real Madrid. Despite a slow start at Manchester United, Cristiano Ronaldo established himself as one of the best players to play for the club.

How did Cristiano Ronaldo become one of the biggest stars under Sir Alex Ferguson?

Some manager-player pairings are just iconic in their own right. Pep Guardiola & Lionel Messi, and Lothar Matthaus & Franz Beckenbauer are two pairs that come right to your mind when you think about such duos. Well, despite their short time together, Cristiano Ronaldo & Sir Alex Ferguson also deserve to get a mention on this list. Sir Alex played a huge role in developing Cristiano into the superstar he is today.

Cristiano, under the legendary manager, made 292 appearances for the club across all competitions. While the player found just 15 goals in his first 90 outings for the side, things turned around in 2006 as CR7 secured 12 goals in his 47 appearances. There was no looking back for the Portuguese from there onwards as he scored 118 goals under Sir Alex helping the team secure three consecutive league titles between 2006 to 08 alongside a Champions League title in 2008. Talk about an impressive legacy!

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