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Ashley Cole became the 22nd Premier League Hall of Fame inductee, with the three-time Premier League-winner joining other greats like Thierry Henry, John Terry, and Rio Ferdinand.
Speaking with Premier League TV about being inducted into the Hall of Fame, the former left back addressed several issues, and one of them was his famous battle with Cristiano Ronaldo, when the winger was still at Manchester United.
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Ashley Cole on Cristiano - ‘We had tough battles’
Cole and Cristiano’s battles were arguably the biggest in the PL in the mid 2000s. The left back remembered how tough it was facing the Portuguese, describing how he felt after the famous split dribble.
"Over the years, Cristiano Ronaldo and I had some mighty battles, and we have mutual respect for each other. I admire what he did in the Premier League, what he did at Real Madrid, he said.
"Whenever I hear his name or see his face, I always think of when he made me do the splits! I don't know if I should laugh, or hide in embarrassment, but what a top professional, he added.
Cole went further to explain what made Cristiano such a difficult opponent to face.
Still speaking in that interview, he said: "He came to the Premier League as a little bit of an unknown, but he soon understood what it took to be a top player. He was willing to learn and adapt. He wanted to be the best player in the world and became a machine. He had everything. He could dribble, he could sprint behind, he could leap and jump and head a ball, he could go inside, he could go outside. So I say he always gave me nightmares, but you try to work each other out and we got the best of each other at times.
"We had tough battles, but I think we both had a mutual respect for each other. We understood and tried to give everything for our club."
Cole about his strength and how Ferguson made his job easier
Cole was a left back who loved to attack when he got the opportunity, which saw him score 16 goals in the PL.
Speaking about his attack strength, he said: "My strength was wanting to get forward and helping in attack - I had the capacity and the physical attributes to get forward and come back very quickly. Even though you had a dangerous player on my side, I tried to use my strength, which was the ability to get up and down, up and down.
"Alex Ferguson was clever with that, and he did change him [Ronaldo] over to the other side a few times and so it made my job, and my life, so much easier by the way, so thank you for that! I did feel that was a little sign of respect as well, which is really, really nice.
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