One Direction heartthrob Niall Horan was greatly surprised when he met footballer ace Cristiano Ronaldo for the first time last year.

The Irish hunk and his 1D bandmates were reportedly invited to a Real Madrid training session in exchange for concert tickets for football manager Jose Mourinho’s daughter.

Before meeting Ronaldo, the ‘Best Song Ever’ hitmaker actually thought the 28-year-old sportsman would have an “attitude”.

“That was a good day,” Horan told The Sun. “José’s a really nice guy but I also couldn’t believe how nice Cristiano Ronaldo was.

“I thought he was going to have attitude but he didn’t – he’s like the joker of the team.”

Meanwhile, One Direction have finally wrapped up their huge Take Me Home world tour. The boys will now focus on their third album, Midnight Memories, which will be available to buy later on this month.

Their latest single ‘Story Of My Life’ from the album has already taken the charts by storm this week.