Patrice Evra is delighted Manchester United teammate Cristiano Ronaldo has been named European Footballer of the Year.

"I did say I would stop playing football if Cristiano did not claim the Ballon d'Or this year," Evra told France-Football. "I was serious.

"This morning [Tuesday], when I arrived at training I said to him: 'Hello Golden Boy'. I am happy for him because he deserves it.

"We are often together and I am starting to know him pretty well. Some say he is haughty, but that is wrong.

"The fact everybody wants to get close to him all the time, everywhere, is a pain. In such situations, Cristiano just stares ahead.

"This is not arrogance, this is his way to protect himself and you have to respect that. Besides, the ones that slam him are the ones who do not know him.

"I can hear people, including professional footballers, saying: 'Alright, he deserves the Ballon d'Or, but...'. I answer straight away that there is no 'but'. Judge him by his talent, not by the image he portrays.

"His adversaries say he is pretentious because he beats them with the ball, but they do not really know who the man is.

"Cristiano used to tell us in the dressing room he deserved to win the Ballon d'Or, but that you can never know in football. Once again, there was no feeling of superiority when he said so.

"He just worked, worked and worked. And he can look at himself in the mirror when he gets up in the morning, without shame or being scared.

"After training I told him: 'You bring the trophy to my place and leave it for a week. You cannot keep it to yourself!'."