Cristiano Ronaldo welcomes Fernando Ricksen to the Bernabeu

Fernando Ricksen met Cristiano Ronaldo on Tuesday night after receiving a personal invitation to the Santiago Bernabeu from the Real Madrid star.

Former Rangers and Holland player Ricksen - who is currently battling motor neurone disease - was the guest of honour for Real Madrid's Champions League match against Legia Warsaw.

The 40-year-old watched Madrid's 5-1 win from Ronaldo's box and was later presented with the shirt he wore during the match.

'One person should be the first to defeat this terrible disease. Well, let me be that person then! I will show the world what fighting spirit means.

'But if death comes, well, it comes. What can you do about it? I've always been like that. Never been afraid of flying either, unlike most of my Russian team-mates (from his time with Dick Advocaat at Zenit St Petersburg).

'I always told them: 'If we go down, we go down'. Which was quite likely with those Russian aircraft, by the way!

'I don't want to feel too much sympathy. I am not pitiful. Please don't treat me that way. It will be tough but I'll keep my head up.

'It was a shock (when I got the diagnosis). Especially after I had Googled what the illness exactly means. All of a sudden, you know you may be dead within a year.

'I still hope the doctors have made a mistake. That, one day, they will say it isn't MND. As long as I don't have the really heavy symptoms of MND, it's a straw I keep grasping at.

'I know it sounds strange but being chased by the Grim Reaper doesn't affect your life that much. Not when your motto is: 'Don't look back'.

'We avoid pessimism and depression by not talking and thinking too much about the disease. That's one of the reasons why we don't shoot an enormous amount of footage of our life as it is today.

'For my daughter, Isabella, that would put too much emphasis on the illness.'