Rio Ferdinand on how he almost reduced Cristiano Ronaldo to tears at Man Utd

Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has spoke of how he almost reduced Cristiano Ronaldo to tears, as he would 'smash him all over the place' in training table tennis tournaments.

Ferdinand, 44, spent an illustrious 12 years with Manchester United, during which he witnessed the development of some of the finest players to ever grace the Premier League, including the likes of Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo.

The latter joined the club as a fresh-faced 18-year-old, before going on to cement his place as one of the greatest in the history of the sport, winning five Ballon d'Or's along the way.

It was the competitive drive of the Portuguese superstar which helped him to the top of the sport, a trait which has been evident since his early days at Old Trafford.

Speaking on the Kyle and Jackie O show, Ferdinand spoke of how he and former Manchester United forward Quinton Fortune almost drew the Portuguese teenager to tears, with Ferdinand known to 'smash him all over the place' in pre-training table tennis tournaments:

"Me and a guy called Quinton Fortune - another teammate - we used to take the mick out of him a lot. He was a lot younger than us at the time - borderline bullying, maybe, but it was just trying to, like, build him, build that resilience.

"We used to play every other day before training, as part of the warm-up. I used to smash him all over the place. He did beat me ... it was me and him, [ranked] one and two, like Federer and Nadal. If it was televised, it would have broken records. He used to, like, almost cry and that, he was so competitive."

Image credit: Alamy

Ferdinand himself was known to be one of the more competitive players in the Manchester United dressing room, highlighted further after footage of a pre-season FIFA tournament surfaced on TikTok earlier this week.

Taken from Manchester United's pre-season tour of the United States in 2011, Ferdinand can be seen alongside former teammates Wayne Rooney, Nemanja Vidic, Nani, Dimitar Berbatov, Ashley Young, Gabriel Obertan, Federico Macheda, Rafael and Fabio de Silva.

Ferdinand is a key protagonist in the video, making jokes at the expense of his teammates, as he and Rooney claim victory in the doubles tournament.