Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Manchester United, Cristiano Ronaldo, Rio Ferdinand
Joe Bray
Rio Ferdinand saw plenty of world-class players come and go during his time at Manchester United, so is well placed to compare Cristiano Ronaldo against some of his peers.
Ferdinand was the rock at the back of Sir Alex Ferguson's great United sides of the early 2000s, forming a formidable partnership with Nemanja Vidic and earning six Premier League titles and the 2009 Champions League trophy.
Now a well-known pundit, Ferdinand is following United on their pre-season tour of the USA, where they will take on West Ham in New York, Bournemouth in Chicago and Everton in Atlanta. He has been joined by former teammate and fellow United legend Wayne Rooney on his travels, combining the tour with a chance to create content for his own YouTube channel.
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Speaking with Rooney ahead of their link-up with United in the coming days, Ferdinand recalled his stunned reaction to Rooney's emphatic debut in 2004 after his big-money £25 million move from Everton as a teenager. The striker scored a brilliant debut hat-trick against Fenerbahce in the Champions League and also registered an assist to announce himself to the Old Trafford crowd, with Ferdinand remembering the reaction within the dressing room after the game.
"No other player in my whole career made us feel like this," Ferdinand told Rooney. "You played the game against Fenerbahce, you scored the hat-trick, scored a couple of great goals. Ryan Giggs probably has about seven Premier Leagues at this time and you told him to step away from the free-kick because you were taking it."
"I remember being in the changing room afterwards, looking around at some of the guys like Ruud van Nistelrooy, even Giggsy. Just [saying] 'look at who we've got! We've got a superstar. He's like an alien."
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Ferdinand even insisted that Rooney's debut topped Cristiano Ronaldo's impact after signing a year earlier, despite the Portuguese going on to reach higher levels than Rooney was able to.
"No other player made me feel like that, even Cristiano came, but his immediate impact wasn't what you've done," Ferdinand continued.
Rooney played down that debut in typically laid-back fashion, saying: "It was weird, it was my first hat-trick. I went back to the hotel with a couple of friends, had a glass of wine and went to bed. Just thinking what had just happened? Really from there was the start of all the confidence and belief in myself. I never had the vision to score a hat-trick on my debut.