Cristiano Ronaldo ‘left baffled’ by Real Madrid defender

Football star Cristiano Ronaldo was left baffled by Royston Drenthe’s defensive ability to switch wings at Real Madrid, former Dutch footballer Rafael van der Vaart said.

The former Dutch footballer told Ziggo Sports of Drenthe’s duels with a five-time Ballon d’Or winner: “He liked to play against Cristiano Ronaldo in training. He found that to be a challenge.”

He wondered: ‘Cristiano? Who is that?’ Cristiano Ronaldo went crazy with him. He was fast, agile and technical. How was he going to pass you? At one point, Cristiano started running down the left wing because he no longer knew what to do with Drenthe,” according to Goal.com.

Ronaldo was more at home on the right flank during his time at Manchester United, but was moulded into a record-breaking striker by the Red Devils and Real. While he is considered to be an all-time great, Drenthe remains a tale of what could have been.

The Portuguese superstar completed a record-breaking transfer to Santiago Bernabeu in the summer of 2009.

Versatile Netherlands international full-back Drenthe had already spent two seasons in Spain by that point, with the regular game time taken in for the Blancos. The Dutchman never truly fulfilled his potential, but he did cause an illustrious colleague plenty of problems in training.