Cristiano Ronaldo applauds Mesut Ozil for his rigorous gym workout

Cristiano Ronaldo shared his support for his former Real Madrid team-mate Mesut Ozil after the German shared a video of himself undertaking a rigorous workout in the gym.

The former Arsenal midfielder, who announced his retirment from professional football a year ago today, had posted a clip on Instagram of him using a set of battle ropes before pushing a weighted sled up and down the length of the gym back in February.

The 35-year-old, who played at Real Madrid with Ronaldo between 2010 and 2013, captioned the video: 'Always stay ready, then you don't need to get ready.'

He also added a sand timer and a '100' emoji. The comment sparked some speculation that he could be considering a return to football.

Despite that, it looked like a gruelling work out, with Ronaldo taking to Instagram to show some love for the former German international.

The Al-Nassr forward Today wrote: 'Bro not bad' with a 'winking face' emoji. The timing of Ronaldo's post is also curious, considering Ozil originally posted the clip back on February 13.

During their time at Real Madrid, Ozil and Ronaldo would play together in 149 matches and would amass an impressive 39 joint goal involvements.

Ozil has previously spoken on their relationship on the pitch, claiming he actually didn't have to do too much work to set Ronaldo up.

'I’ve never seen a person like him,' Ozil told Arsenal's official website back in 2018.

'I really enjoyed playing with him because he made me better on the pitch and he’s a great guy off it, too.

'It was easy to play with him because you didn’t need to create a lot of chances.

'Even if I just gave him two passes, he would score two goals and that’s why he’s one of the greatest footballers who’s ever lived.'

The Portuguese football