Cristiano Ronaldo had a heart operation in his mid-teens

Cristiano RonaldoRonaldo had to have a heart operation to save his footballing career when he was still a promising young player playing for Sporting Lisbon, a potuguese club.

He was just 15 years of age at that time when his 'racing-heart' problem emerged.

The medics in charge at sporing alerted him about the problem but Ronaldo says that he never really took the situation very seriously but thanks to Ronny's mum Dolores Aveiro who got a big fright and authorised him to be treated in hospital.

Mrs Doleres had feared that the Manchester United winger would have to give up playing after the delicate laser surgery which cured his heart problem and jokingly says that the operation made him run even more faster.

Over the years there have been several top players who felt victims to fatal heart attacks. Cameroon's Marc-Vivien Foe, also former Manchester City player who died while playing for his country in 2003, also Antonio Puerta from Sevilla and Miklos Feher from Benfica suffered from these heart tragedies on the pitch and eventually passed away.