Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho has snubbed Cristiano Ronaldo and named former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba as his all-time favourite player.

Mourinho was responding to reports that he had criticised Drogba following the Ivory Coast striker’s move to Galatasaray, who Madrid will face in the quarter finals of this season’s Champions League.

The Portuguese knows Drogba well having been his boss at Chelsea where the pair collected five trophies in three seasons, including the Premier League title and the FA Cup.

‘I have had a lot of truly special players, but if I had to choose one I might go for Didier,’ Mourinho told Real Madrid TV.

‘As a player he is out of this world. I would like to have him by my side, so just imagine.’

Asked about the reports that suggested he had criticised his former charge, Mourinho added: ‘Drogba knows who I am and what I feel in my  heart for him.

‘It is impossible that I would talk bad about Drogba.

There is no problem because he knows that the last thing I would do is to say anything negative about my relationship with him.’