Ronaldo Opens Up About His Father

“He was screaming at me: ‘Cristiano! Make the right decisions! Cristiano decision making!’”
Cristiano Ronaldo flashes his pearly whites as he recalls the bellowed words of Sir Alex Ferguson, the man who he calls his “father in  football” and his great teacher.

Sport  has asked the Portuguese superstar which lessons still resonate inside his head. “Oh, many things,” he replies in near perfect English. “When you’re a young player, you don’t understand decision making properly: when to take a touch, when to dribble. He taught me the basics that took me to where I am today. I remember that in the beginning – they always say I didn’t do the decision making great. So he taught me how to do this.
“I feel proud that he pushed me so hard. One of his best qualities is that he pushed players when they needed it – and in that period of time, I needed it. I needed him – and  Roy Keane  too, our captain – always screaming to me: ‘Cristiano! Pass the ball!’ But it was good! At the end of the day, I feel happy, because I learned a lot from them.”
It was 12 years ago this year that Cristiano Ronaldo, a Sporting Lisbon teenager with spaghetti in his hair, ran amok against  Manchester United  in a pre-season friendly. Keane himself recalls it in his autobiography: “He was up against John O’Shea. Sheasy ended up seeing the doctor at half-time because he was actually having dizzy spells.”
Since that day, the dizzying rise to the top has continued. The move to Manchester United; seasons of improvement into becoming one of the club’s best ever players; an £80m transfer to  Real Madrid; becoming this famous club’s record goalscorer in just over six seasons. Yet that doesn’t mean everything in Ronaldo’s life is perfect.