Former Manchester United attacker Diego Forlan has explained that Cristiano Ronaldo was different to David Beckham because he was an “egotist”. United signed Ronaldo during the summer of 2003 after they saw him impress during a pre-season friendly when he was in action for Sporting Lisbon against them.
“Ronaldo was an egotist in the dressing room – not like Beckham,” Forlan said to The Mirror.
“Cristiano always wanted to be near a mirror. He spent all day looking in the mirror.” as the glamour boy of the United team
Beckham joined Real Madrid during the summer of 2003 with Ronaldo coming in as his replacement. The then 18-year-old Ronaldo would eventually go on to also replace Beckham as the glamour boy of Sir Alex Ferguson’s team. During his time at Old Trafford, the Portugal international went on to score 118 goals in all competitions from 292 games. He helped the club to win three Premier League titles, one FA Cup, two League Cups, one Champions League and one Club World Cup before leaving the English club during the summer of 2009 to join Real Madrid himself.
Ronaldo would also go on to have a love-hate relationship with former team-mate Wayne Rooney with the duo undergoing many highs and lows during their years as team-mates.
Forlan struggled at United
Forlan may have won the best player award after the 2010 World Cup and be a Uruguayan football legend but he largely struggled to establish himself during his time at United. During his time with the Red Devils, he went on to score just 10 goals from 63 appearances. He would go on to endure better success in Spain with Villareal and Atletico Madrid, the latter whom he helped to win the inaugural edition of the Europa League during the 2009/10 season. Forlan may be right in that Ronaldo puts a great deal of effort and thought towards his presentation as compared to the average footballer, though it may be debatable whether he can be considered to be an “egotist” because of that.
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