Danny Murphy recalled a moment he was furious with Manchester United ace Cristiano Ronaldo after a contentious tackle during a meeting between the Red Devils and Liverpool in 2004.
The Portuguese international had apparently reacted ungratefully after the then Reds star attempted to smooth things over with the attacker.
“I never thought he would go on to do what he did,” the former midfielder told talkSPORT (via the Express).
“But he was special, he was special. It was like, ‘Oh my God he’s got the ball, we have got to double up on him and stop him.’
“But I never forget that game you’re talking about funnily enough, because he tried to two-foot me – he lost his head and we were beating them.
“He missed me thankfully, so I didn’t go over and, because I was cool and calm because we were winning, I put my hand out as if to say ‘don’t worry about it.’
“I gave him a little high-five or a slap – or whatever you want to call it – and he told me where to go.
“So I was fuming with him and I just thought. ‘I’ve just saved you a red card!”
It was not set to be the last contentious moment from the No.7, with the player having attracted criticism for a moment of unnecessary aggression in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men’s latest hosting of the Merseysiders at Old Trafford.
It’s interesting to see that Ronaldo hasn’t exactly changed much as far as his general character is concerned, with the forward showing little in the way of remorse for his actions last month.
As a player, the former Los Blacos man is undoubtedly one of the globe’s leading talents – a remarkable feat at the age of 36.
However, we wouldn’t trade the Portuguese for any one of our mainline forwards, with Jurgen Klopp having built a frontline that does more than what it says on the tin.