Former Netherlands international Ruud van Nistelrooy has defended Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo.
Van Nistelrooy, who was Ronaldo s team-mate at Manchester United from 2003 until 2006 and at Madrid in 2009-10, has stressed that the Portugal international is not an arrogant person.
I never saw him as an arrogant guy. He was always open to advice and not arrogant at all. He was a great guy in the dressing room. He was really vain, but always in a good mood and making jokes, Van Nistelrooy told Algemeen Dagblad.
I talked to him like attackers talk among each other. A lot of his individual actions were not necessary and he lacked efficiency. He still had a lot of room for improvement.
He worked incredibly hard to become a better player, though. And that s clearly paid off. He really is crazy about the game and always wanted to become the perfect player.
He s had to work hard to get where he is now. He put in a lot of extra hours after training. And look at where it s got him. He is big, strong, has pace and scores tons of goals. He is a very committed professional.
Ronaldo has netted nine goals in as many official appearances this term, and will be looking to add to his tally in Wednesday s Champions League encounter against Ajax.
