Former Real Madrid midfielder, Javi Garcia has said that he was flabbergasted when he trained with Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo in the past.
Garcia hailed Ronaldo as an ‘animal’ in football who has a great ability to make movements in short spaces.
The Spaniard joined Benfica shortly after Ronaldo arrived in Real Madrid but did have the opportunity to train with him on a number of occasions.
Garcia left Real Madrid in 2009 for Benfica – the same summer, the Los Blancos paid a then-world-record fee of nearly €100 million to Manchester United for Ronaldo.
Ronaldo went on to win four Ballon d’Or awards and four Champions League titles at Real Madrid, scoring 450 goals in 439 games for the LaLiga giants and is their all-time top scorer.
I left that pre-season for Benfica, but I still trained a few times with Cristiano Ronaldo. I was just flabbergasted, it was inevitable, and I think it happened to all players,” Garcia, who currently plays for Boavista, told AS, as per A Bola.
“All I could think about was where that animal had come from, his ability to dribble was incredible, his movements in short spaces (too),” he added.