A youthful Cristiano Ronaldo inadvertently contributed to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer experiencing “unbearable” pain.

When Ronaldo joined Manchester United in 2003, his raw talent was undeniable, but his attitude required some refinement. Under the guidance of Sir Alex Ferguson, Ronaldo evolved into a footballing powerhouse, going on to amass over 900 career goals. However, he wasn’t always the polished performer fans around the world have admired for two decades.

Solskjaer, who had an illustrious 11-year tenure as a player at United before a less triumphant managerial return in 2018, has revealed how Ronaldo once unintentionally contributed to a severe knee injury that plagued him for years and ultimately led to his retirement.

“We signed Cristiano. We could see that he was a massive talent and would become a superstar, but I was not going to step aside,” Solskjaer said in his new book, Bring On United. “I was stubborn, and my stubbornness killed me in one game against Wolves [at Old Trafford in 2003]. Cristiano was on the left. He played against Denis Irwin, then at Wolves.

“Cristiano didn’t get any change out of Denis, so he kept changing position to try and get away from him. Cristiano wasn’t tracking back as he should, so I ended up tracking his position and running more than I had done in any other game.

“I felt a sense of loyalty to the team. Towards the end, I was f****d. I should have asked to be subbed, but I thought, ‘this young cocky player is not going to be the reason that I ask to be subbed.'”

Describing a fateful moment during a game, he added: “Scholesy played a ball in behind for me to run onto. I cut inside and stretched but felt my thighs and legs give in. I could feel my thigh bone and my knee. But I cut inside and shot with my left, missed the target and then jogged off.

“That was the moment when I first f****d my knee up. That was the start of three years of injury hell. All because I wasn’t prepared for Man United to lose a game because a young player was not tracking back.”

After trying grit it out, Solskjaer eventually conceded he needed surgery. He said: “My knee had gone – cartilage. I didn’t want to miss games for Norway, so I tried to play. I came back, played for United against Panathinaikos and it was in that match, just before half-time, that the pain was unbearable. I had to come off.

“I woke up after [after the operation] the anaesthetic and knew that I’d not just been out for 45 minutes but for hours. I felt my knees and knew they’d operated on it. I carried on and recuperated for four months, then played again in the FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal at Villa Park [in 2004]. I played up front on my own and did well.”

However, the Norwegian never fully recovered and retired from playing in 2007. He, of course, would later go on and manage Ronaldo during the club’s icon’s far-less-successful second spell at the club.