Back in 2011, Cristiano Ronaldo took part in a documentary titled ‘Tested To The Limit’ and he passed their tests with flying colours.
The Portuguese superstar has always been an incredible specimen and Castrol wanted to put him through a series of unique tasks.
One of those involved Ronaldo having to try and hit the back of the net from a cross – while in complete darkness.
A man known as ‘Ronald’ takes part in the tests alongside ‘CR7’ and it comes as no surprise he found it tough. Ronaldo, however, has an instinct like no other.
Night-vision replays confirm the five-time Ballon d’Or winner scored his first three attempts with relative ease.
When asked about how difficult it was, he replied: “It’s difficult because it does change a lot.
“You’re focusing on the ball and then with no light, you have to try and measure where it is.”
The study shows Ronaldo’s subconscious had to interpret the body language of Andy, who crossed the ball in.
He then had to programme his body speed and movement to reach the ball at the right moment.
‘Ronald’ didn’t have that same reading of the game however and that’s why he missed his chances.
The very final test sees Ronaldo have to score by just reading Andy’s body language. So what did he do?
Score with his shoulder, of course.
Another segment of the documentary sees the current Al-Nassr man face a professional sprinter.
Angel David Rodriguez is captain of the Spanish athletics team and states he was three tenths of a second ahead of Ronaldo in a race over 25 metres.
He explained: “I took three tenths from him [Ronaldo], which is quite a lot. If it was 100 metres, he may be able to get 11.60 [seconds].”
That means he would be approximately just over two seconds off Usain Bolt’s world record time of 9.58 seconds.
Rodriguez, who is also known as ‘El Pájaro’ (The Bird), has 21 Spanish titles and he explained to ‘At Home with Athletes’ what went on during his time with Ronaldo.
“I was doing a report on race technique with Cristiano Ronaldo. You had to run in various styles to demonstrate differences in race technique between a sprinter and a footballer,” he recalled.
“He is fast and very good at lateral movements. He clearly trains a lot.”
