Manchester United isn’t just getting a five time Ballon d’Or winner in Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored two goals against Newcastle in his Sept. 11 return to the club. It’s also getting an unofficial nutritionist.
Goalkeeper Lee Grant told talkSPORT that, after seeing Ronaldo down a healthy plate of food the night before the Newcastle game, he and his United teammates couldn’t bring themselves to eat the deserts usually laid out for them after their Friday dinner.
“I tell you now, not one player touched the apple crumble and custard, not one player went up for that brownie because everybody was sat down and one of the lads said to me, ‘What has Cristiano got on his plate?'” Grant said. “So we were having a little goosey gander at what he has got and obviously it is the cleanest, most healthy plate you can imagine. And it just cracked me up how not one single player dared get up and have that junk food that was laid out.”
According to The Sun, Ronaldo eats six meals a day with fish being his most common protein. Ronaldo also calls chicken “magical” because it’s high in protein and low in fat. Giorgio Barone, Ronaldo’s former personal chef, said the 36-year-old maintains his chiseled physique while aging by eating organic, natural foods and owning the mindset of looking at his body like he’s “looking at a Ferrari.”
Though Ronaldo’s commitment to his diet was integral to him becoming the top international scorer of all time, Manchester United manager Gunnar Solskjaer threw cold water on it being as influential as Grant indicated.
“That’s obviously a joke by Granty in a setting with some mates, it’s not as though we were eating junk food before he came in and he’s changed it all,” Solskjaer told The Sun. “But obviously, he’s proved how to look after yourself”
Ronaldo’s mindset of looking at himself like a Ferrari has done wonders for himself and Manchester United. Against Newcastle he became the oldest United player since 2013 to score a goal in Premier League play, and he placed an exclamation point on that record by scoring two. Ronaldo then scored United’s lone goal against the Young Boys in the Champions League.
What Ronaldo is missing in apple crumble and brownies, he’s more than making up for with goals and personal success. Solskjaer surely won’t be disappointed if the Portugal native’s diet habits rub off on his squad.
