Post by bluetornados on Nov 3, 2023 9:55:21 GMT
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Former Manchester United first-team coach Rene Meulensteen recognised Cristiano Ronaldo's "potential" as a goalscorer and helped him become one during his first spell with the club.
Reflecting on his time working with the Portugal forward, Meulensteen told BBC Radio Scotland's Sacked In The Morning podcast: "Two words that spring to mind straight away for Ronaldo are 'drive' and 'focus'.
"He was obviously much younger when he came, but he was just so talented and obviously when you bring a lot of talent through the door there is a lot of potential. The key for us was to unlock it.
"I was fortunate that he got suspended during one season and didn't travel when the first team away for matches so I had two or three consecutive days to work with him.
"He was very skilful but sometimes it was just doing a step over for a step over’s sake. I wanted to make him more effective, so it led to an end product and told him he could be far more clinical in front of goal.
"I wanted to turn Cristiano from someone who could score a goal into a goalscorer - and I just needed him to understand what the difference was."
Ronaldo went on to score 145 goals across two spells with the club and was key to the side that won the 2008 Champions League while Meulensteen was first-team coach.
"Cristiano always wanted to score the most beautiful goal and the most important one and I had to make him understand you've got to score as many goals as you can, even in training if it doesn't mean anything," he added. "Every goal counts.
"Every goal you score in training means you will eventually also score in the game, because when that moment comes in the game you recognise it, you’ve already scored it in training and therefore your focus can be fully on the execution and not the outcome.
Former Manchester United first-team coach Rene Meulensteen recognised Cristiano Ronaldo's "potential" as a goalscorer and helped him become one during his first spell with the club.
Reflecting on his time working with the Portugal forward, Meulensteen told BBC Radio Scotland's Sacked In The Morning podcast: "Two words that spring to mind straight away for Ronaldo are 'drive' and 'focus'.
"He was obviously much younger when he came, but he was just so talented and obviously when you bring a lot of talent through the door there is a lot of potential. The key for us was to unlock it.
"I was fortunate that he got suspended during one season and didn't travel when the first team away for matches so I had two or three consecutive days to work with him.
"He was very skilful but sometimes it was just doing a step over for a step over’s sake. I wanted to make him more effective, so it led to an end product and told him he could be far more clinical in front of goal.
"I wanted to turn Cristiano from someone who could score a goal into a goalscorer - and I just needed him to understand what the difference was."
Ronaldo went on to score 145 goals across two spells with the club and was key to the side that won the 2008 Champions League while Meulensteen was first-team coach.
"Cristiano always wanted to score the most beautiful goal and the most important one and I had to make him understand you've got to score as many goals as you can, even in training if it doesn't mean anything," he added. "Every goal counts.
"Every goal you score in training means you will eventually also score in the game, because when that moment comes in the game you recognise it, you’ve already scored it in training and therefore your focus can be fully on the execution and not the outcome.