Former Manchester United first-team manager Rene Meulensteen recognized Cristiano Ronaldo’s “potential” as a goalscorer and helped him develop into one during his first season at the club.
Recalling his time working with the Portugal striker, Meulensteen told BBC Radio Scotland’s Morning Fire podcast: “The first two words that come to mind for Ronaldo are ‘drive’ and ‘focus’ .
“He’s obviously a lot younger when he comes but he’s very talented and obviously when you bring in a lot of talent there’s a lot of potential. The key for us is to unlock it.”
“I was lucky that he was suspended for the season and didn’t travel when the first team was playing away games, so I had two or three days in a row working with him.
“He’s very technical, but sometimes it’s just a step for the sake of taking a step. I want to make him more efficient, so the end product tells him that he can be more clinical in front of goal.”
“I want to change Cristiano from a guy who scores goals to a goalscorer – I just need him to understand the difference.”
Ronaldo scored 145 goals in two spells at the club and was a key figure in the team’s 2008 Champions League win, while Meulensteen served as first-team coach.
“Cristiano always wants to score the most beautiful and important goals and I have to make him understand that you have to score as many goals as possible, even in training, if it doesn’t mean anything,” he added. “Every goal is important.
“Every goal you score in training means you’ll eventually score a goal in the game because when that moment comes, you realize, you’ve scored a goal in training, so your focus It can be all about execution, not the game.” Results.
“He started to realize that this is where he wanted to be, in the box, at the end of the game. Then he started to appreciate every goal he scored.”
More Manchester United anecdotes on the full episode of BBC Sounds