Rafael van der Vaart gave an unexpected reason why Cristiano Ronaldo is the hardest working footballer he has played with.
The Dutchman played with the current Al Nassr striker at Real Madrid under Manuel Pellegrini in the late 2000s.
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Kylian Mbappe's start to life in Madrid since his blockbuster move from Paris Saint-Germain in the summer was discussed on talkSPORT's 'The LineUp' this week.
Van der Vaart, a guest at This week's showHe was then asked if Ronaldo was the club's biggest name during his time there.
The former striker said: “He never left his house!”
“I always say as a joke that Ronaldo is the only player whose dick I have never seen!”
More about Cristiano Ronaldo
The audience in the studio couldn't help but erupt as Van der Vaart gave his rather unexpected reasoning.
“He was the first in training [pitch]!” he continued.
“And the last one to leave.”
While Van der Vaart may have given a little too much information, Ronaldo's work ethic is .
The Portuguese sensation has five Ballon d'Ors as well as 24 gold boots, a Puskas award and five Champions League titles.
And even with the Big 40 looming on the horizon, Ronaldo embodies the notion that “age is just a number.”
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“First of all, his body, wow!” Van der Vaart continued.
“A machine. He was a little ahead of his time, the players are the same now.”
“But his training in the gym, eating, sleeping.
“For him, that was more important than training extra hard.”
Ronaldo and Van der Vaart didn't win silver medals together, and Van der Vaart says he could see how much Ronaldo cared for him.
He praised his former teammate and said: “Ronaldo was so incredibly selfish. If we won 6-0 and he didn’t score, he wasn’t happy.”
“If we lost but he scored twice, that would be fine!”
When asked what he thought about Ronaldo playing for himself, he said: “No, no! He just has to score.”
He continued: “It was the same with Ruud van Nistelrooy, I had so many conversations with him and it was so interesting because he always said: 'I need my goals! I need my goals!'”
