Ronaldo’s favourite meals get a mixed reaction from his Manchester United team-mates

Virgin Radio

28 Sep 2021, 15:02

Cristiano Ronaldo doesn’t seem to need too much convincing to take his shirt off and, to be fair, if we had abs like his, we wouldn’t either. The bad news for us, however, is that you don’t get a physique like that without a huge amount of commitment and, as his Manchester United team-mates are discovering, a very strict diet. 

The Portuguese megastar sticks to a specific diet which can see him eat up to six times a day. This is a massive contributing factor in his ability to still be on top of his game at 36 years old.

The player was asked by the chefs at the Manchester United training ground for a list of his preferred foods. When he did so, his requests included a traditional Portuguese stew called Bacalhau, consisting of salt cod and eggs, and octopus.

According to The Sun, his team-mates enjoy the Bacalhau, but aren’t so keen on the octopus. 

Regarding the octopus meal, a United source reportedly said: "Most of the lads won’t go there - even if it clearly works for Ronny!”

The source added: "Cristiano is very much into his proteins, stuff like slices of ham, eggs and avocados, and the chefs are trying to help him with a little taste of home."

When Ronaldo re-signed for United, goalkeeper Lee Grant told talkSPORT that his healthy diet immediately rubbed off on his team-mates. "So, as you guys will be aware, you finish your dinner and usually on a Friday night you’ve got a few cheat stuff out,” he explained. “You’ve got some apple crumble or you’ve got a bit of brownie and cream or whatnot. 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?’

"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."

Whatever the Manchester United players ate last Friday clearly didn’t work, as the team slumped to a 1-0 home defeat to Aston Villa, with Bruno Fernandes blazing an injury-time penalty over the bar. The team will be hoping for a better result when they take on Everton this weekend.