Without a shred of doubt, Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the most hardworking players in soccer history. There are several stories about his life that can inspire anyone. However, sometimes it is seen that the sincerity of his dedication to the sport was limitless.
One of those extraordinary stories come from the early days of his career. It was rumored at the time that Ronaldo used to put on weights on his ankle to help him gain pace and become a better dribbler. In an interview with UniSport in 2019, Ronaldo was asked if there was any truth to this. With 15+ years deep into his career, he laughed and claimed it was all true as people had the ultimate proof of result in front of their eyes.
Cristiano Ronaldo used to strap his ankles with weights to make himself faster and specifically his step overs.
Unreal mentality man 😂 pic.twitter.com/0YzoP9L4TZ
— • (@erlingtxt) November 10, 2023
“Everything is important,” Ronaldo explained. “At the beginning, when I was young, I did a lot and I did extra training to improve my skills, the dribbling and everything.
“But I think it worked well, because what I am today started from that moment. I did weights on my feet when jumping and dribbling, then I’d take them off and feel faster.”
Using weights as an aid in your training is not exactly an unused phenomenon in sports these days. However, in the early 2000s, to use those weights for primarily building speed and dribbling acumen was a genius move form the Portuguese superstar that paid him dividends instantly.
Cristiano Ronaldo conjured up over 500 successful dribbles during his first stint at Manchester United
Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United played Sporting Lisbon in a friendly early in the 2000s. Ronaldo played for the Portuguese side at that point. The United manager and players were all convinced that Ronaldo is an attacker worth having in the team. Sir Alex wasted no time and Ronaldo was a United player in August 2003.
During his first stint at the English club Ronaldo was a young kid with the heart of a lion. He never shied away from putting his skill on show at the intimidating Theatre of Dreams. His stats did not say otherwise.
In his first season, with around 40 appearances under his belt, Ronaldo pulled of 57 successful dribbles. The next season, he almost doubled his tally and pulled off 109 dribbles, according to MessivsRonaldo.app. In the 2005/06 season he made 107 successful dribbles and in the following three seasons at United he made 85, 90, and 58 dribbles per season, respectively. His total successful dribbles at United in six seasons equalled 506.
Ronaldo moved to Real Madrid in 2009 for a then-world record fee. His dribbling prowess continued for the first few seasons in Los Blancos. However, he moved on to becoming the most lethal finisher in the game and started scoring for fun. Meanwhile, Lionel Messi continued to be an outstanding dribbler throughout his career and conjured up many more successful dribbles than Ronaldo in their careers.