Diego Simeone: Cristiano Ronaldo's Atletico Madrid links were rumours

At one stage, there were reports doing the rounds claiming that Ronaldo wanted to leave Man Utd and return to Spanish football ahead of the 2022/23 season, which never materialised and the Premier League club elected to keep the 37-year-old instead.

The reports claimed, Atletico along with teams in China, Saudi Arabia and the USA were rumoured to be monitoring the situation.

But now in an interview from Marca, Simeone confirmed those reports were rubbish and he had no interest in signing Ronaldo.

"The rumours are far from what actually happened. People sometimes speak to tell what they want to, not what actually happens," Simeone said.

"Ronaldo is an absolute benchmark for Real Madrid. I would not see Palermo playing at River Plate or Riquelme or Ortega at Boca. There are situations that are very clear."

Ronaldo's record against Atletico is exceptional during his Real Madrid days, having scored 25 goals in 37 meetings which is by far his record against any individual domestic team.