Michael Owen never actually got a chance to play alongside Cristiano Ronaldo at Manchester United. The veteran England striker was brought to the club in 2009 in a bid to help smooth the transition of losing the Portuguese star to Real Madrid.

Owen inherited Ronaldo's number 7 shirt at Old Trafford after the Ballon d'Or winner completed a then world-record £80million move to the Bernabeu.

This week, the 32-year-old is gearing up for another crack at bringing home the Champions League title as Real prepare to take on Italian giants Juventus.

And for some reason, Owen has pointed out that the side from the Spanish capital can't take credit for turning Ronaldo into the player that he is today.

Instead, he feels that his six years at Manchester United were what was responsible for turning him into one of the greatest players the game has ever known alongside Lionel Messi.

“He was absolutely off the scale in how he was performing at United,” said Owen per the Mirror.

“So I don’t think Real Madrid can take the credit at all because United and Fergie groomed him in that way and he continued to progress at Real.

“Ronaldo had a couple of out-of-this-world seasons at United at the end and has not stopped improving. He is a one-off, he really is.

"Ronaldo and Messi have taken football to a new level for so long as well, consistently ­being top of the tree.

“People don’t realise that it’s so hard to become what Cristiano has become because if you painted the perfect picture of a football player it’s just Ronaldo.

"He’s the perfect height, he’s not too tall, a perfect height and shape. He’s quick, two-footed, ­brilliant in the air, durable and he scores goals for fun.

“If you typed all of those ­attributes into a computer you couldn’t come up with a more perfect player than Ronaldo. He’s got the lot. And added to that what he’s got between his ears as well in terms of the confidence, the arrogance and self-belief to be the best, it’s hard to see ­anyone coming close to him in the future.

“Don’t dismiss the way he lives his life either and the dedication he has to becoming better every day. Not everyone is like that. So there are lots of different elements to him being the best and he is certainly that.”