Cristiano Ronaldo ‘Knocked Out’ By Phil Babb

Former Liverpool and Republic of Ireland defender Phil Babb has recalled how he once “knocked out” a teenage Cristiano Ronaldo during their time together at Sporting Lisbon.

Babb played for Sporting from 2000 to 2002, while Ronaldo was aged 15 to 17, and before the current Real Madrid man had made his first-team debut for the Portuguese side.

In an interview with Sky Sports programme “The Fantasy Football Club,” Babb says he was embarrassed by his young teammate at training and so responded with a violent “forearm chop,” which he used to teach the “little kid” a lesson.

“[Ronaldo] was really skinny then and he had this big mop of hair — a bit like Steve McManaman back then,” Babb said. “We’re doing a training session and it’s attack versus defence. So this little kid runs at me. He steps over twice, three times, goes past me, sticks it in the top bin.

“All the lads are like ‘Babbsy he’s had you off’ and all that, in Portuguese. So the next time, he’s coming at me: step over one way, step over the next, he shoots past me — so I forearm chop him. I knock him out.

“So Ronaldo’s on the floor, and I’m like ‘nunca mais’ — Portuguese for ‘never more’ or something like that. He’s looking at me and he doesn’t know what has happened. The training ground’s gone quiet.”

Babb agreed with The Fantasy Football Club host Max Rushden that the incident had been character building for the young Ronaldo.

“I’ve had a massive influence on his career,” he joked. “But needless to say, he went down the other side and never came back.”

After leaving Sporting in 2002, Babb joined Sunderland where he was relegated from the Premier League at the end of his first season, and retired as a player 12 months later aged 33. His most recent job in football was an 18-month spell as manager of National League South side Hayes & Yeading United.

Ronaldo, who signed a new contract with Madrid last week, made his Sporting debut in August 2002 before joining Manchester United the following summer.