Cristiano Ronaldo had to be restrained after taking offence to a tactical instruction during Jose Mourinho's spell as Real Madrid manager.
Following details of how Sir Alex Ferguson made Ronaldo cry during the player's first season at Manchester United, the latest extract from 'Cristiano Ronaldo: The Biography' moves on to his time in Spain.
With Madrid leading Valencia 2-0 in the first leg of their Copa del Rey quarter-final in January 2013, an exasperated Mourinho "very pointedly" instructed Ronaldo to track back and defend for the final minutes.
This did not go down well with Ronaldo, despite Mourinho underlining the importance of not conceding a goal, who shouted at his manager in the dressing room after the game.
"After everything I've done for you, this is how you treat me! How dare you say that to me?!" Ronaldo exclaimed.
Mourinho responded, calmly: "I was saying it for the team, because the team needed you to track back."
The manager opted to end the conversation, seeing that Ronaldo was in no mood to match his less intense approach, and approached him later with similar results... which is when Mourinho lost his cool.
He said: "Just so you know, many think like me here, but don’t dare say it, they don’t have the balls to tell you."
The situation esclated with the book claiming a host of players - depending on the source - including Iker Casillas, Alvaro Arbeloa, Sami Khedira and Sergio Ramos, prevented the pair "coming to blows."
Author Guillem Balague concludes that Ronaldo misunderstood "a tactical comment as a personal attack", before adding that "the relationship between Mourinho and Ronaldo would never be the same again".
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