Cristiano Ronaldo's childhood friend opens up about former Real Madrid star's 'difficult' school life

One of Cristiano Ronaldo’s childhood friends revealed why the former Real Madrid and Manchester United star’s school life was ‘difficult’.

Ronaldo, 39, is currently plying his trade in the Saudi Pro League with Al Nassr and despite entering the twilight years of his career, continues to score goals having registered 13 strikes in 15 league appearances this term.

And a characteristic commonly associated with the five-time Ballon d’Or winner both off and on the pitch is his unwavering confidence and self-belief, which has no doubt helped towards his impressive career goals tally of 919 strikes.

One of his closest childhood friends, Jose Semedo, revealed how everyone at Sporting CP “knew" Ronaldo "was going to be a professional footballer” but he did not envisage the prospect of him going on to achieve things he has done.

Of course, with any professional footballer, there is a huge element of natural talent, but the Portuguese is also known for his strict regime of healthy living and intense training sessions to gain small advantages over his opponents.

“Every tournament he went to from the age of ten he was named as the best player,” Semedo told FIFA in 2016.

However, his talents did not always mean Ronaldo was warmly received by his peers – namely during his time at school.

Jose Semedo (left) played for Charlton Athletic (Credit:Getty)

“It was really difficult for him [Cristiano Ronaldo] at school aged around 14, 15," explained Semedo.

“Every guy was jealous of him.

“Firstly, because of his name, he was called Ronaldo!”

Of course, Ronaldo was in his final school years around 2000-2002, a period when his namesake Ronaldo ‘R9’ Nazario was considered to be one of the best players in the world.

“Secondly, because he was considered in almost every newspaper as the best player under 15 in Europe – he was in the news all the time," he added. "And all the girls wanted him!”

Semedo, 40, who played professionally for several teams - including Charlton and Sheffield Wednesday - revealed how he “had to protect” Ronaldo due to him being “famous already”.

The pair are friends to this day and have been spotted together through images on social media in recent years.