Watch: What happened when Cristiano Ronaldo raced a professional sprinter

Cristiano Ronaldo is inarguably one of the greatest footballers to ever step foot on this planet. The Real Madrid superstar is a phenomenon who was redefined success and set benchmarks on the football field time and again.

And one of the biggest reasons behind the success of the former Manchester United star has been his blistering pace. At his prime, Ronaldo was one of the fastest players on the pitch – one who has the ability to brush past any defender owing to his sheer speed.

A few years back in 2013, his former teammate and pundit Gary Neville explained that if you gave Ronaldo the space to run at you, you didn't stand a chance of catching him.

'I always found the key to stopping him was making sure that he didn't get the ball one-on-one against you,' said Neville of his former Manchester United teammate.

'It's vital to stop the ball getting to his feet in a good position, you'd have to try and step in front of him, try and make sure you put pressure on him very quickly so he didn't get his speed up.

'Once he gets his speed up and you're back pedalling into your box, you're really in trouble because the key thing about these types of players is they can go either way.'

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However, as Ronaldo reaches the wrong side of the 30s, it has been clearly evident that he might not have the same burst of speed but more than makes up for it with his trickery, deadly eye for goal and footballing IQ.

Ronaldo’s running technique remains unconventional with the Portuguese’s arms and legs both cutting across. The Real Madrid superstar also runs with his head fully raised as he reaches top speed.

Whilst the mechanics might not be for all, it clearly works for him?

But how will he fare against a professional sprinter?

Seven years back in 2011, Ronaldo was put to the test as he squared off against 100m sprinter Angel David Rodriguez, who’s best time is 10.14 seconds in a documentary called 'Cristiano Ronaldo – Tested to the Limit'.

The two competed in a 25 sprint to see who was the faster of the two. Check out what happened below at 3:30.

Ronaldo clocked an impressive 3.61 seconds over the 25m but that wasn't enough, with Rodriguez beating him by 0.3 seconds (3.31).

To Ronaldo’s advantage, he was also wearing bladed football boots whilst Rodriguez only had a pair of tennis trainers on – which had zero grip on the bottom.

The video truly illustrates that even the fastest football players can’t cope up with professional sprinters.

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