Cristiano Ronaldo's comments on Wayne Rooney reflect how good a player he was 

Cristiano Ronaldo had showered praise on his former Manchester United teammate Wayne Rooney after the 35-year-old called time on his glorious 20-year career as a player on Friday.

Rooney has been appointed manager on a full-time basis at Derby County. He spent most of the 2020 calendar year as a player-manager for the club but has now decided to take on the role permanently after officially retiring as a player.

Loved every minute of my playing career but excited to get started in management with a great club in @dcfcofficial. Thanks for all the messages and best wishes, appreciate them all ❤️ pic.twitter.com/zYABfF9UBx

— Wayne Rooney (@WayneRooney) January 15, 2021

The pair were teammates at Manchester United for five seasons before Cristiano Ronaldo moved to Real Madrid in 2009 for a then world-record fee of €94 million. Wayne Rooney went on to represent Manchester United until 2017 when he moved to his boyhood club Everton.

The duo formed an extremely fruitful partnership in Manchester United's attack. They helped the club win 8 major trophies in those 5 years, including 3 consecutive Premier League titles and 1 UEFA Champions League title.

In light of Rooney's announcement, it seems fitting to revisit comments made by Cristiano Ronaldo on Wayne Rooney in a 2015 interview. The Portuguese appeared in an interview for a documentary on Wayne Rooney and his remarks highlighted Wayne Rooney's significance to the team.

“He was the kid of England, everyone loved him. He was so powerful I was calling him ‘Pitbull'. I remember when he lost the ball, he was so powerful. He was a strong guy and the way he shoots is unbelievable," Ronaldo said.

"The power of Wayne Rooney is his mentality and strength and he never stops. He always runs and helps the team. He's a fantastic team player and he scores goals. He scored important goals. For me, he's fantastic," Ronaldo added.

One of the most complete players that I’ve seen in my lifetime... what a Legend. #Rooneypic.twitter.com/u0dmnNR6Rl

— MARCUS GOMES 🇦🇺 (@MarcusGomesFIFA) January 16, 2021

Cristiano Ronaldo also spoke about his individual relationship with Wayne Rooney and said that they shared a good relationship on the pitch and that Rooney helped him a lot after joining Manchester United. Ronaldo also praised Rooney's personal characteristics and called him a fantastic person.

Incident with Wayne Rooney at 2006 FIFA World Cup was no big deal: Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo's wink at Wayne Rooney after the latter was sent off in the World Cup.

Ronaldo was also quizzed about the infamous 2006 FIFA World Cup incident with Rooney, the card and the wink. He claimed that it was never as big a deal as it was made out to be. Ronaldo stated that he had a chat with Rooney when they got back to Manchester after the World Cup and they remained friends thereafter.

Ronaldo said the incident was just dramatized in the media but no bad blood actually accompanied the incident and that things were normal when the pair continued playing for Manchester United thereafter.