The day Benatia realised Ronaldo is 'not normal'
It was a text message Mehdi Benatia received from Cristiano Ronaldo at 11pm while the pair were team-mates in Turin, which made him realise the Portuguese superstar 'is not a normal person'.
The Morocco centre-back, who now plays for Qatari side Al-Duhail, recalled the time he and Cristiano Ronaldo were on the bench against Atalanta.
"For the game against Atalanta we were the two unused substitutes because three days later we were going to play again and the coach wanted to make rotations," Benatia told RMC.
"When we were on the bus back, Cristiano Ronaldo sent me a message: 'What are you going to do now?' I told him: 'It's 11pm, I'm going home. Why?"
Benatia then explained that Ronaldo said he was going to the gym to exercise.
"At that moment I realised that Cristiano is not a normal person," Benatia said. "When you work with him, you respect him more because you see that he sacrificed his whole life for football."
Contrary to what Benatia claimed, Ronaldo was not an unused substitute. The 35 year-old was brought on in the 65th minute and scored in the 2-2 draw, which apparently wasn't an adequate workout.