Patrice Evra Exclusive: Cristiano Ronaldo is an "alien"

Patrice Evra
14 October 2022
4:00 min read

Evra says Ronaldo is not "from this earth"

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Betfair Ambassador Patrice Evra returns to explain why it is Ronaldo's discipline which makes him great, whilst praising Erik Ten Hag's derby reaction...

Ronaldo can't be the GOAT as he's not from this Earth

700 goals and counting - more goals than people have played games

Sir Alex Ferguson's influence on Ronaldo

Luke Shaw and Casimero made the difference at Everton

Mbappe hasn't told me "directly" he wants to leave

Ten Hag has got United back in control after derby defeat

I was massively pleased with Man United's win last time out, because Everton is a tough place to go. We got a good result in the Europa League, Cristiano didn't score but he had a good game, then against Everton he didn't start but came on and scored.

Football is so quick. We should give lots of credit to Ten Hag, because he made some more big decisions, he put Luke Shaw back in the team, Casimero finally started and I think those two changes made the difference.

I think Luke Shaw had enough with people saying Malacia is the next Patrice Evra and he felt like he was the second player. I think he had a great performance and we have to give him credit. I love it when there's massive competition at fullback.

Finally Casemiro started. He doesn't need to adapt because he played in the Champions League against Premier League sides. Everyone was impatient and he ended up the man of the match. I'm not surprised.

I think Ten Hag is in control. I was scared after the City game that some players would start losing faith in him but you can tell he's in charge and he's going to bring the team to their maximum level and that win against Everton was a massive result.

Back in the day we would have lost that match, but we didn't and it's down to Ten Hag. He will refuse to let them go back to that mentality when they accept losing. He is the man.

The two previous wins were fundamental and we now need another win and Cristiano Ronaldo to score again so that the goal machine carries on and on.

Ronaldo: 700 goals, say it again and it's still hard to believe

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.

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.

Sir Alex Ferguson had a massive impact on Ronaldo's career

There have been many phases in his career. When he started he was like a Youtube player, lots of skill, that's what I felt when I arrived at United.

But, I also felt that there was a hunger and personality to show to people that he could be the best and he had big players around him, like Roy Keane.

I remember one time early on Ferguson destroyed him. I think we played Chelsea and he didn't have a good performance.

Ferguson told him: "it's easy to score a hat trick against Bolton or Blackburn but what about the big games?" It was a tough hairdryer moment.

Suddenly after that, I remember Cristiano started to score in the big games, then he became another player.

Ferguson went further and told him that he's not a winger, that he's a striker and with his ability he had to score two or three goals a game and he didn't care about the tricks and skill, he said: "forget that, you need to score goals."

That season Ronaldo scored 42 goals.

He was a goal machine, he didn't care about impressing people with skill and tricks, he was just focused on scoring goals. A lot of it is down to Sir Alex Ferguson, he had a massive impact.

I remember we were always together in the gym and his work ethic was incredible. If we started training at 10, Cristiano would have been there at 8.

When we finished the training session, everyone would be in the shower apart from Cristiano, who'd be on the pitch practising his free kicks. He had to work hard for it.

People say I love Cristiano so much because he's my friend, no. I love the work ethic of Cristiano. That's what I admire the most.

Mbappe rumours are just that, but he would love the Premier League

This week there have been reports saying that Mbappe wants to leave PSG.

First of all, Kylian hasn't told me face to face, I haven't heard that coming from his mouth. Let's be clear. We have to respect him as a PSG player.

I think everyone wants to see Kylian Mbappe in the Premier League. I want to see it because it's the perfect league for him with the speed he's got, he will have more fun.

I'm careful about talking about rumours though because I haven't heard it from Mbappe. But of course it would be exciting if he came to the Premier League. Even Kylian would love it.

Every French player loves the Premier League, especially when they see myself, Henry, Vieira, Makelele, Cantona and many others.

I remember when we would meet up with the national team, the players' dreams were to play in the Premier League and maybe Mbappe has the same feeling.

I don't think he'd struggle and he'd adapt fast, he's got everything. It's not the same Premier League when I started and struggled early on.

I think it's easier to adapt. I don't think he'd score as many goals as Haaland but he would be the idol of every fan. People will love him and the way he destroys players one v one, he would score goals too. Mbappe can play anywhere.

If you want to destroy a team you pick Haaland, but if you want to see a good game and a great player that can play anywhere and score goals too, you pick Mbappe.

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