Former Manchester United winger Luis Nani has opened up on how deep Cristiano Ronaldo’s competitive streak runs.
The winger joined United in 2007 after moving from Sporting Lisbon and would go on to play 230 times for the Red Devils, scoring 40 goals.
He is currently playing his football back in his native Portugal for Club Football Estrela Amadora SAD.
After moving to Old Trafford all those years ago, he moved in with Cristiano Ronaldo and fellow new signing, Anderson.
Speaking to The Players’ Tribune he outlined how competitive even a young Cristiano Ronaldo was.
“Jorge Mendes was his agent, too, and Cristiano was living alone. So I moved in with him and Anderson, who had just arrived at Man Utd. What a time it was. We were all young lads who spoke the same language, and we had so much fun. Cristiano had a swimming pool, a Ping-Pong table, a tennis court – and every day we would compete at something.”
Such was the young Portuguese’s aversion to losing that the people around him would do all within their power to make sure he would not suffer it.
“One time we had a quiz with Carlos Queiroz, Sir Alex’s assistant. I gave my answer and Cristiano gave his, and I knew mine was right. So you know what Queiroz did? He tried to change the answer to make sure that Cristiano would be right.”
“That’s what it was like with Cristiano. He could never accept losing. Never! But we loved that about him, and we learned a lot from him. By the time Anderson and I left that house, we had become allergic to defeat, too!”
Ronaldo went on to have an incredible career, scoring 910 goals for both club and country and winning numerous major trophies at Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus.
Whilst his spectacular return to Old Trafford in 2021 didn’t quite work out, he has continued his fine displays at Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia, where he has scored 10 goals this season.
This failure to accept losing has also been the secret to his longevity which has seen him still represent his nation regularly despite turning 40 this February.
Alex Browne
Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Proud owner of such niche shirts such as Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Gary Neville. Grew up pretending to be Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the back garden, with little success.
