Patrice Evra has claimed that former Manchester United teammate Cristiano Ronaldo is an 'alien' and that people still misunderstand the veteran striker.
Ronaldo scored the 700th club goal of his career in United's 2-1 victory over Everton last Sunday, with the 37-year-old coming off the bench to notch the winner just before the half-time break. The Reds fell behind after Alex Iwobi put the home side in front, before Antony levelled proceedings with his third Premier League strike in as many games.
Despite enduring a difficult start to the season, Ronaldo has been praised by former teammate Evra, with the ex-defender suggesting that the 37-year-old's 'discipline' is admirable. The Frenchman also claimed that the veteran frontman is only disrespected by jealous people or Lionel Messi fans.
ALSO READ: United can sign perfect Diogo Dalot alternative to repeat Ten Hag trick
"Cristiano Ronaldo is an alien. I won't call him the GOAT, because he's not from this earth. It's crazy. What I like about Cristiano is his discipline. When I was training with him, that's the word that I had in my head every single day," Evra told Betfair.
"It's unbelievable. People don't reach 700 games, he's scored 700 goals. He's scored 700 goals. 700 times this guy has scored. I can repeat it over and over and it's still hard to believe. But it's Cristiano Ronaldo, alien is how I'd describe him. Incredible discipline to do it.
"I think his discipline to push himself that much is a sickness, it's like a disease. I think he has an urge to push himself no matter what, he doesn't care what people say. I worry about when he retires because what is he going to do to find that drive and adrenalin to keep pushing himself? It's going to be tough for him. It's a disease in a good way.
"People don't understand how many sacrifices Cristiano Ronaldo has to make every single day. His diet, his sleep pattern, he can't enjoy going out and having a good drink with friends, so many sacrifices. To have that, it has to be part of your DNA.
"We have this debate, and some really unfair people, I call them jealous people, criticise him, but he went to Madrid and conquered Spain, he went to Juventus and conquered Italy, he came back to the Premier League at the age of 36.
"When you disrespect Cristiano, it's because you're jealous or you're a fan of Messi, I understand that and it's not a problem. But he's unreal. He's an alien. If we take a spaceship and go to the moon, we'll maybe see Cristiano there. When we go to sleep, he goes to the moon because he's an alien."
The Portugal international played the full 90 minutes as Ten Hag's side secured an important 1-0 win over Omonia Nicosia in the Europa League on Thursday night. United scored in added time thanks to Scott McTominay's late strike.
READ NEXT:
