The 22-year-old defender admires his former team-mate but will show no mercy during the Champions League clash on Wednesday, and is adamant that the Real Madrid forward is better than his arch-rival Lionel Messi. When asked by the newspapers ‘The Sun’ he told them he knows how to stop the Real Madrid star.

I can stop ‘best in the world’ Ronaldo, insists Manchester United defender Rafael

The Portugal forward has 36 goals in 35 appearances for Madrid this term, and has scored an astonishing 182 in 179 games since his  move to the Spanish giants in 2009.

But this does not intimidate Rafael who says:

“For me, [Ronaldo is] the best player in the world,”  “I think he is the complete player and I really like him. I think he is the number one.

“I know what he can do because I played and trained with him a lot. So he’s not the type of opponent where you would say ‘He is good but I don’t know what he can do’ – I know what he can do.”

“If you concentrate, that’s the key, reading the game,” he continued. “Ronaldo is very quick .He can come inside and shoot with power and is tough to come up against.”

Sir Alex Ferguson only said good things about Rafael who is promised to a great future.

“I like it when I hear Sir Alex Ferguson or Rio [Ferdinand] saying these things about me,” he added. “It’s nice and I hope I can keep going. It’s important to get the team medals first of all because, if you get them, then the other personal things are going to come as well.

“If everyone is fit we have two teams – two good teams. So if we can split it sometimes, players can get a rest and stay fresh. That is always a good point for us – if everyone is fit we definitely have a good squad.”