Cristiano Ronaldo dropped retirement bombshell after private chat at Man United

Cristiano Ronaldo had initially planned to retire from football at the age of 30, according to former Portugal international Costinha.

However, nine years on from that supposed retirement date, the former Manchester United forward is still performing at a high level for both club and country. He has reached 900 career goals on a recent international break with Portugal, and has also racked up three goal contributions so far this year for Al-Nassr.

Costinha revealed that he had a conversation with Ronaldo early in his career, during which the forward supposedly expressed his desire to hang up his boots by the time he turned 30.

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"I remember him from a very young age, he made his debut against Kazakhstan in 2003. The only thing that I found strange at the time was that he said that at 30 he wanted to give up football," Costinha told ESPN Brazil.

"But, you quickly realised that it was impossible for that to happen, such was the level of perfection that he would seek in any situation that came his way.

"He said to me: 'Costa, I'm going to play until I'm 30 and then I'm going to do something different'. I thought it was difficult. 'It's very unlikely because of the way you are'. And ten years have passed (since turning 30) and he continues to play very well."

Instead, Ronaldo began the 2014/15 season with Real Madrid as he turned 30, scoring in 11 consecutive La Liga matches and securing his fourth European Golden Shoe with 61 goals across the campaign.

His achievements after turning 30 didn't halt as he clinched three Champions