Sami Khedira played with Cristiano Ronaldo for five years at Real Madrid and later for two and a half years for Juventus Turin. According to his own statements, the 2014 world champion perceived the five-time world footballer differently at both stations.
“I met two Cristianos,” Sami told Khedira in a podcast ESPN. The 34-year-old ex-midfielder explained this statement as follows: “At Real Madrid he was a bit younger, maybe a bit insecure and headstrong. But not in a negative way, I felt he was still looking for his personality .” The current Manchester United star had already “scored a lot, a lot of goals, but he didn’t have that kind of impact on the team.”
Khedira: Ronaldo more mature at Juventus than at Real Madrid
At Juventus, Khedira said he “had the same spirit and ambition to score goals, but he was more of a leader – naturally”. Ronaldo was therefore aware “that he needs his teammates even more” if he wants to win titles. According to Khedira, this was the difference between the Ronaldo at Real Madrid and that at Juventus Turin. ‘CR7’ would have been part of the squad at Los Blancos, but was simply more mature at Juve.
“He’s relaxed in the dressing room”
Just before Ronaldo joined Juventus from Real Madrid in 2018, Khedira enlightened his then Juve colleagues about the Portuguese, telling them: “Cristiano is special. He’s a normal guy, but he’s special. Take care of him.” According to Khedira, Ronaldo was always “relaxed” in the dressing room, “but on the pitch you could see that the level of performance had increased”.
–
