The 51-year-old former footballer rates his Inter Milan teammate as the finest player he ever lined up alongside and thinks the Brazilian would have gone to “such great heights” if it weren’t for his injury woes.

Naming Ronaldo his best ever teammate, Christian told FourFourTwo magazine: “He’s from another planet, like a gift from God.

“When he was born, God said, ‘My friend, you’re going to become the best ever.’

“In the history of football, there have been two or three of them.

“He’s touched by God – I genuinely think that.

“He was huge, with legs like a giant. He could compete in the 100m.

“He was incredibly quick, which you could see with his awesome stepovers and he had unbelievable technique.

“I have videos about five minutes long where he’s just nutmegging everyone in games.

“If he hadn’t got injured, he would have gone to such great heights.

“You couldn’t stop him – he was too good for everyone. I’ve never seen anyone like him.”

Christian admitted he and his pal attracted a “crazy” level of attention when they went out together.

He said: “We had a really good relationship, like best friends.

“We’d go out to restaurants in Milan. As we went in, all the people would get up and applaud.

“I thought, ‘What the f***. Are we the Beatles here?!’ It was crazy.”