Cristiano Ronaldo names the club he was happiest playing for | OneFootball

Cristiano Ronaldo has admitted the happiest time of his career came during his playing days with Real Madrid.

The Portugal international, who celebrates his 40th birthday on Wednesday, is currently enjoying a prolific stint with Saudi Arabian side Al Nassr but has successful spells with Sporting CP, Manchester United, Madrid and Juventus on his incredible resume.

Asked to look back on his time with Madrid during an appearance on Los Amigos de Edu, Ronaldo confessed the Spanish giants provided him with his favourite memories in football.

"Spain is my home, my children grew up there," he began. "It's where I was happiest in football, I will always have Madrid in my heart.

"I did some really nice things and people don't forget. The younger kids watch me on YouTube, I keep scoring, my celebrations... people get involved. I get home and Mateo is watching YouTube, watching players. He likes [Jude] Bellingham, he likes [Eduardo] Camavinga, [Kylian] Mbappe...he teases me by saying that he's better than me."

Ronaldo looks back fondly on his time with Madrid / Power Sport Images/GettyImages

Ronaldo went on to admit that when the summer of 2018 arrived, he felt as though his magical time in Madrid had come to its natural conclusion.

"I wanted a different stage, my stage was over," he reflected. "I wanted a different motivation.

"It didn't wear me down, it was something I told the president, he accepted that I could leave. We were in a negotiation phase and he didn't behave so well with me, I understand it because he always does it like that and I couldn't go back, because I gave my word to Juve and the president wanted to go back on it. But I appreciate Florentino [Perez] a lot, he's a serious person, who treated me well and we won many things together."

On a potential return to Madrid in the future, Ronaldo added: "One day maybe. I don't rule it out. I left a legacy there, a nice mark there. Maybe when I finish my career I can do something cool, with 80,000 people.

"People today value those duels with Barcelona, ​​we lived through a period with sky-high tension. The fans, the TV talking about the game. Madrid-Barcelona, ​​Cristiano-Messi, [Gerard] Pique and [Sergio] Ramos... It was nice, a rivalry that existed and was healthy."