Owen Hargreaves reveals Cristiano Ronaldo's first words to him at Manchester United that came true

Cristiano Ronaldo is not only one of the best in history at scoring goals, but also at showing the future.

Football Top scorer of all time He has always had big ambitions in the game and has turned almost all of them into reality on the pitch.

At the age of 39, Ronaldo recently reached a new milestone of 900 professional goals with a goal against Croatia in the League of Nations and the goal of 1000 has already been set.

The Al Nassr striker looks set to achieve that, given his track record of achieving every ambition he sets for himself.

Former teammate Owen Hargreaves knows this as well as anyone, revealing that one of his first conversations with Ronaldo turned into a bold prediction.

The former English midfielder arrived at Old Trafford from Bayern Munich in 2007 and was instantly impressed by his new teammate.

Speaking to talkSPORT, Hargreaves said: “I remember seeing him in the gym all the time working, working, working.

“He told me one of the first days in the gym 'I want to be the best player in the world this year' and he hadn't even won the Ballon d'Or yet.

“We won the League and the Champions League and he won the Ballon d'Or.”

Ronaldo was coming off a career-best 23 goals in 53 games when he made the comment, but no one could have expected what was to come.

The Madeira-born megastar would break out with 42 goals in 53 games in that double-winning campaign, sparking a new era of individual dominance led by himself and Lionel Messi.

Hargreaves added of that key conversation: “That was his mentality, he planted a seed and it grew. I have a lot of respect for the fact that he's still playing the game at his age when we're all broken and injured in a studio somewhere.

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“I have a lot of love and respect for him. I see him working every day and I can see what he puts into his art.”

“He's just a machine. People look at him and criticize him for whatever reason and I don't understand it, he's an incredible athlete and an even better professional.

“You have to think that with the talent he was born with, the size, the strength, the skill that he has, he was the guy who worked on his game more than anyone else.

“So if you are a little kid and you want to become great in any walk of life, you may have a set of skills, but you will only achieve it through hard work.

“After training, he would get the ball, make passes, free throws and then go to the gym and do exercise and weights and then get in the ice bath and eat well and do that every day.

“If you don’t have his mentality and you’re not as dedicated as he is, he doesn’t have a lot of patience for that and I respect that.”

Hargreaves spoke to talkSPORT via TNT Sports, the home of the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League. For more information, visit tntsports.co.uk/football

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