Cristiano Ronaldo: Frank Lampard saved him from a red card in 2009

Cristiano Ronaldo and Frank Lampard are two Premier League legends.

Both are still involved in England’s top tier. Ronaldo, at 36, is back at Manchester United while Lampard, at 43, is the manager of Everton.

But the two players were fierce rivals once upon a time.

Ronaldo spent six seasons at United during his first spell and competed for the title against Lampard’s Chelsea in each campaign. In fact, it was only in Ronaldo’s debut season (2003/04) that neither United or Chelsea won the league as Arsenal went unbeaten.

The two sides even met in the 2008 Champions League final with both Ronaldo and Lampard getting on the scoresheet. United went on to win on penalties in Rome.

It’s fair to say the two players were enemies, then.

However, during a clash between the two sides in January 2009 at Old Trafford, there was a moment of brilliant sportsmanship between the pair.

United ran out 3-0 winners but Ronaldo would surely have been sent off if it wasn’t for Lampard – and the clip resurfaced this week and is going viral.

The Portuguese superstar was already on a yellow card when he caught Lampard on the shin with a late and nasty challenge.

If Lampard had gone to ground and rolled around, Howard Webb would have been left with very little choice but to dismiss Ronaldo.

However, the Chelsea legend quickly jumped to his feet, smiled and embraced Ronaldo – seemingly telling Webb not to take any action.

The clip was recently posted on Twitter with the caption: “This clip of Frank Lampard saving Cristiano Ronaldo from getting a second yellow shows how much football has changed. Just pure class.”

This clip of Frank Lampard saving Cristiano Ronaldo from getting a second yellow, shows how much football has changed.Just pure class.