Cristiano Ronaldo ‘went crazy’ by Royston Drenthe’s defensive ability

In an interesting revelation, a former Dutch footballer has said that Cristiano Ronaldo was left “crazy” by Royston Drenthe’s defensive ability to swap wings at Real Madrid.

Rafael van der Vaart told Ziggo Sports of Drenthe’s duels with a five-time Ballon d’Or winner: “He liked to play against Cristiano Ronaldo in training. He found that to be a challenge."

He wondered: 'Cristiano? Who is that?' Cristiano Ronaldo went crazy with him. He was fast, agile, and technical. How was he going to pass you? At one point, Cristiano started running down the left wing because he no longer knew what to do with Drenthe,” according to Goal.com.

Ronaldo was more at home on the right flank during his time at Manchester United but was moulded into a record-breaking striker by the Red Devils and Real. While he is considered to be an all-time great, Drenthe remains a tale of what could have been.

The Portuguese superstar completed a record-breaking transfer to Santiago Bernabeu in the summer of 2009.

Versatile Netherlands international full-back Drenthe had already spent two seasons in Spain by that point, with the regular game time taken in for the Blancos. The Dutchman never truly fulfilled his potential, but he did cause an illustrious colleague plenty of problems in training.