Cristiano Ronaldo: I miss playing with Wayne Rooney

Rooney and Ronaldo formed a devastating partnership in the latter’s later years at United before the three-time Ballon d’Or winner made the switch to Real Madrid in 2009.

So fruitful was their relationship in fact that Ronaldo secured the first of his Ballon d’Or successes with Rooney as his co-conspirator in 2008.

And Ronaldo was full of praise for his former colleague during the BBC documentary Rooney: The Man Behind the Goals.

“The power of Wayne Rooney is his mentality and his strength - he never stops,” Ronaldo said .

“He’s a fantastic team player and he scores goals. We won every trophy - the Premier League, the Carling Cup, the Champions League

“He’s a fantastic boy and he helped me a lot when he came to join us in Manchester. I miss playing with him. Maybe in the future we will play together again.

"I have to say congratulations to him. I know how hard it is to be number one."

Ronaldo joined United from Sporting Lisbon in 2003 before Rooney was signed in 2004.

There was once a genuine debate as to who was the better player. In the same way that Ronaldo is now pushed to further greatness by Lionel Messi, he was once cajoled into better himself by the rivalry he had with Rooney. While Ronaldo has gone on to surpass all ecpectations, Rooney has, it would be fair to say, plateaued. In spite of that Rooney remain a superb footballer and Ronaldo is right to praise him as such.

Ronaldo’s cheeky claim that he might one day play with Rooney again will surely have set some United fans’ pulses racing.