Euro 2024: Ice baths at 2am – life with Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal

I always laugh when I hear stories and rumours about how Cristiano Ronaldo is a disruptive presence in the Portugal camp, because that’s all they are – stories.

I spent many years with him in the national team and I never saw any problems. What I do know is that he is not just a great professional himself, he also tries to help everyone else in the squad.

Even just observing him would give you ideas of what you should be doing to be successful, but when you are with Cristiano you get so much more than that.

He’s the captain of the squad and he’s always been a vocal guy, who talks a lot, but on or off the pitch he leads by example too.

So, when he goes earlier than everyone else to the gym, or does his physiotherapy and is preparing his body and his mind, then he drags everyone else up with him as well.

He would lead, and we would follow. I can remember us all doing ice baths and saunas at 2am because of him and, as well as helping our physical recovery, the important thing is that we were doing them together, the whole squad.

As well as creating the ideal team spirit, I always saw it as an opportunity to learn from the very best. In today’s game you have so much instant access to information and data, and players will do their own research to find out what works and doesn’t work for them.

But Cristiano has the ability to speak with the very best experts – in everything – in the world and the good thing is that he is happy to share it with everyone.

He will talk about anything you ask him because he wants to improve you and the team, and it makes it a good environment to work in.