Man Utd icon Van der Sar: Sheer hard work key to success of Real Madrid star Ronaldo

Retired Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar says former teammate Cristiano Ronaldo deserves his success.

Van der Sar says everything that has come to Real Madrid star Ronaldo is due to hard work.

He told CNN: "Cristiano Ronaldo used to say that he wanted to be the best player in the world and probably a lot players say that, but he’s someone who really worked on it. During training he was unbelievable, just ran to the ball every time and make those actions.

"He just played a big part in our success at Man United and after training he practised his free kicks. Quite hard for a goalkeeper to save them. Luckily, if you speak to him I managed to save a lot from him, he scored a couple also, I’m not going to take that away from him. We always had a good understanding I think."