Cristiano Ronaldo can put himself in pole position to win a sixth Ballon d’Or on Saturday evening.

All he needs to do is win the Champions League final.

The Portuguese superstar will be Real Madrid’s biggest threat as they look to defeat Liverpool in Kiev.

Ronaldo’s record in the Champions League is impeccable.

He has scored 120 goals in the competition - 15 of which have come this season - and among Liverpool’s priorities will be stopping him from adding to his tally.

One man who knows all about Ronaldo’s heroics is Rio Ferdinand, who was there when an 18-year-old Ronaldo ran the show for Sporting Lisbon against Manchester United in 2003.

It was on the back of that performance that Sir Alex Ferguson decided to bring Ronaldo to Old Trafford, and the rest is history.

Ferdinand's Ronaldo story

Ferdinand watched Ronaldo develop into a world-class player at Man United before he left for Real Madrid in 2009.

And in his column for The Sun, the former centre-back has revealed Ronaldo is the first player he ever met who had his own team, including his own chef, dietician and doctor.

Ferdinand believes questions might have been asked about Ronaldo's entourage if he wasn't such a talented player.

“In the mornings he was in the gym before training,” Ferdinand said.

“He was the first player I ever came across with the big entourage like his own chef, dietician and doctor.

“It might have raised a few questions if he wasn’t as good as he was.

“But he was producing the goods and suddenly we were thinking: ‘Maybe it works.’

That isn’t to say that Ronaldo’s teammates didn’t take the mick out of him, though.

“We used to rip it out of him for the gear he wore and I gave him more than most,” Ferdinand added.

“He wasn’t precious though - he could take it and give it out. He really was one of the lads. He’s no prima donna.”

Ronaldo won the 2008 Ballon d’Or award and completed an £80 million move to Real Madrid a year later.

He’s since added four more Ballon d’Or awards and won the Champions League three times.

As careers go, few have done it better than Ronaldo.