Cristiano Ronaldo made instant dressing room change – the young players were gobsmacked

A former team-mate of Manchester United legend Cristiano Ronaldo has revealed the simple change the Portuguese icon made in the Juventus dressing room that had the younger players gobsmacked.

Ronaldo headed to Juventus in the summer of 2018 in a £105m transfer from Real Madrid, and got straight to banning technology in the dressing room in order to limit distractions.

The former United forward was an advocate for banning mobile phones from the gym and dressing room in order for the players to avoid social media and focus on their work.

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Former team-mate Sami Khedira – who played with Ronaldo at Juventus and Real Madrid – told Rio Ferdinand's podcast FIVE how he left the younger players shocked with his "ego" and strict approach.

The former Hertha midfielder said: "Cristiano, when he came to Juventus, of course he had his ego."

He described an encounter with Italian footballer Federico Chiesa and Ronaldo, continuing: "Federico Chiesa was like a fantastic young player.

"He had his phone in his hand and was walking into the gym - Cristiano looked at him like 'what are you doing and where are you going? Going to the gym with your phone – listen you don't need your phone, go in the gym and work. Don't do Instagram and don't do any TikTok. Focus on your work'."

Khedira noted that this impressed the younger players – but everything about Ronaldo's training style had his team-mates reeling. He added: "The young players were like, wow. But even the quality of training when he came to Juventus, it was like a different level.

"Every single shot on target was like I needed to score. Let's not play about money but play about a bottle of wine or a dinner. He was a competitive guy but also really friendly, nice and humble. In my point of view."

Ronaldo – a stellar United icon – is still lighting up the main stage as he enters the Round of 16 at Euro 2024 with Portugal and shining in Saudi Arabia with Al-Nassr. The 39-year-old broke the record last campaign for the most goals in a single season with 35 in total.