Just a tapper? Recall Ronaldo in Manchester when he used to make fun of defenders with tackles

For today’s kids, Cristiano Ronaldo is more of a knock-on, a striker waiting in the box for a chance. But at the start of his Manchester United career, he was probably the best dribbler in the world, making fun of defenders.

While after 30, Ronaldo was more focused on scoring goals and subordinating his entire game to them, this was certainly not the case in his younger years.

When he started playing for Sporting, he amazed with his fantastic dribbling, ball management and tackles.

In a mutual match with Manchester United, the 17-year-old Ronaldo was tearing up the Red Devils defenders until United icons begged Sir Alex Ferguson to bring the Portuguese youngster to Old Trafford.

That is indeed what happened and Ronaldo immediately began to show his skills in England. At Manchester United, he played as a right midfielder in a 4-4-2 formation and was at times accused of concentrating more on fouling opponents than scoring goals.

But Ronaldo was simply undefendable. His acceleration combined with his ball technique was lethal to any defender. More than one star defender sat on his ass for the Portuguese.

Often, Ronaldo would dribble through three or four opposing players because he knew he simply wouldn’t lose the ball.

Even at the start of his Real Madrid career, he often took to the dribble, but a mysterious knee injury around his 30th birthday forced him to change his playing style and not dribble as often.

This turned Ronaldo into the goal scoring machine we know today. As he gets older, it’s not even possible for the Portuguese to do stunts on the pitch like he did in his 20s. However, that era was very pleasing to the fan’s eye and brought Ronaldo millions of fans around the world.

Source: Twitter