Manchester United legend Paul Scholes has pinpointed the match that turned Cristiano Ronaldo’s career around at Old Trafford.
Ronaldo arrived at United as an 18-year-old in 2003 and initially struggled to adapt to life in the Premier League.
There were concerns raised over his physicality, while he often frustrated fans with his lack of end product.
Scholes has revealed that even Ronaldo’s team-mates lost patience with him at times, and it all came to a head when United faced AC Milan in the last-16 of the Champions League in March 2005.
The Red Devils succumbed to a 1-0 defeat in the second leg at San Siro as they exited Europe, and Scholes believes Ronaldo’s poor performance proved to be the lightbulb moment he needed to kickstart his career.
Paul Scholes believes Cristiano Ronaldo’s struggles against AC Milan in 2005 proved to be the turning point in his career
Ronaldo had a torrid time against Paolo Maldini and Co as United were knocked out of Europe
Scholes feels that match convinced Ronaldo he needed to make changes to become an elite player
‘I always remember a game at AC Milan and he frustrated the life out of me,’ Scholes explained to ex-team-mate Nicky Butt on the Football’s Greatest Eras podcast.
‘We were playing them away. But [Gennaro] Gattuso kept running over to him and taking the ball off him and it was doing my head in. He was playing against [Paolo] Maldini anyway, but Gattuso just kept coming over, taking the ball off him, taking the ball off him.
‘We were having a right go at him. “Look, you’ve got to pass the ball, pass the ball before he gets to you. It’s quite obvious what’s happening”. And I think it was after that game that he realised and he thought, “Right, that’s the game, that’s the biggest stage, I’m going to play him. And I wasn’t quite up to speed”.
‘Now, whether he thinks that or what, I don’t know, but he wasn’t game intelligent enough. But I think from that point on, he just excelled. He got bigger, he got quicker, he got stronger and he learned more.’
Ronaldo failed to win the Premier League in his first three seasons at United, but things started to click into place for him after that as he won three successive titles, along with the Champions League and Ballon d’Or in 2008.
After six years at the club, Ronaldo decided to leave United in 2009 to join Real Madrid for £80m.
Scholes and Butt feel it was right move for him to go to the next level, as they admitted Ronaldo would have struggled to become a global superstar if he’d continued to play under Sir Alex Ferguson.
‘I’ll always wonder what it would have been like if Ronaldo would have stayed for another 4-5 years at United,’ Butt mused.
Nicky Butt claimed Ronaldo would not have been a global superstar if he’d stayed at United
Butt is adamant Sir Alex Ferguson would have put the team’s needs above Ronaldo’s
‘Would he become the superstar he is? I don’t think he would have. I don’t think that the manager with his personality would have liked him to have gone on to that stratosphere as an individual, which he is now.
‘Because if you look at all the superstars, they never stay in the Premier League. They certainly don’t stay at Man United. They stay until they need to go to the next level. You see a lot of these Spanish, Portuguese players, they all see the next level as Real Madrid. They don’t get appreciated here, like you get appreciated at Real Madrid.’
Scholes agreed, adding that Ronaldo may not have gone on to win five Ballon d’Ors if he’d remained at Old Trafford.
‘You think Barcelona players, Real Madrid players, there’s not really many English players. Not so much English players, but players who play in England, who go on to win that [the Ballon d’Or],’ Scholes said.
Football’s Greatest Eras with Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes. Episodes can be watched on YouTube and Spotify or listen to it wherever you get your podcasts.
