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.

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.

"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."

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.