Juventus star, Cristiano Ronaldo was once a subject of facetious taunts from his Manchester United teammates while still plying his trade in England. However, rather than getting mad at them, the Portuguese legend saw the witty side of it and even had the magnanimity to tease his colleagues back.

This is according to Stoke City striker Peter Crouch, who revealed a funny story from ex-teammate Rio Ferdinand regarding Portuguese star, Cristiano Ronaldo from his Old Trafford days.

The striker divulged a revealing anecdote about how a naked Cristiano Ronaldo used to boast he was better looking than Lionel Messi in front of Manchester United’s dressing room mirror.

In his new book entitled ‘How to become a Footballer’, Crouch gave exclusive detailed stories told to him by Rio Ferdinand, a teammate of Ronaldo for six seasons with Manchester United.

One of those stories details Ronaldo’s rivalry with Lionel Messi as well as his dressing room habits during his time in England.

“Rio Ferdinand would tell us stories about how Cristiano Ronaldo would stand in front of the mirror naked, running his hand through his hair, and say, ‘Wow. I’m so beautiful!’,” Crouch said.

“The other United players would try to wind him up. ‘Whatever. Leo Messi is a better player than you.’
“And he would shrug his shoulders and smile again. ‘Ah yes. But Messi does not look like this…'”

The Ronaldo story is one of several stories told by the former England international in the new book, including a personal anecdote about a young Crouch’s interest in what turned out to be a team-mate’s partner during his early days with Liverpool.

“On signing for Liverpool I stayed at the Hope Street Hotel. On reception was a girl so good looking I couldn’t quite believe she was smiling at me all the time,” Crouch wrote.

“I told the lads in training. ‘Honestly, she’s beautiful. I think I’ve got a shout here.’ Jamie Carragher called a few other senior players over. ‘Tell them again, Crouchie.’ So I did.

‘She’s all over me. I’m on fire.’ Carra again, all interested. ‘What does she look like?’
“‘Amazing. Dark-haired. Spanish-looking. I’m in there.’ It turned out she was Xabi Alonso’s partner. She was doing a bit of work to practise her language skills. He was nice about it. So was she. Carra less so.”

Peter Crouch currently plays in the English Championship with Stoke City.
He has played six times for Stoke in this campaign following their relegation from the premier league in the 2017-18 season.