AITOR KARANKA has worked with the best in the world and wants his Middlesbrough players to learn from Cristiano Ronaldo in a bid to bring Premier League football back to the Riverside Stadium.

Ronaldo celebrated his 30th birthday on Thursday less than a month after he was crowned the world’s best player and Karanka feels privileged to have worked with one of football’s greatest ever players.

The Portuguese superstar is not the only player the Boro boss has had the pleasure of watching develop and train on a regular basis, having played and coached at Real Madrid and through the Spanish youth-set-up.

And he has no problem in bringing up Ronaldo’s name around the training ground at Rockliffe Park because he feels it can benefit the Middlesbrough men he is now attempting to make better players.

“Cristiano is the best comparison to make for a player. He is easy to mention to my players because you can compare them with the best,” said Karanka. “It is difficult to compare a player with a player who nobody knows.

“I speak to my players, tell them to look at themselves in the mirror as Ronaldo does, and think of ways of improving. It’s a great example for every player. I have learned from a lot of experiences in my life and working with Ronaldo is one of those.”

Sir Alex Ferguson often described Ronaldo’s willingness and drive to improve as one of the Real Madrid forward’s biggest assets. Karanka, who was the assistant manager at the Bernabeu for three years, agrees and thinks getting Boro’s players to be driven to help achieve their goals.

“I have worked with Ronaldo, the best player in the world, but I also worked with Zidane, Figo, Raul,” said Karanka. “Those are, or have been, the best players in the world. I have worked with the best coach in the world, Jose (Mourinho). So I have experience of all of those. I don’t know what will happen in the future, but you should always look to improve.

“I think if you have played in teams like Real Madrid you have to be a winner. It’s no good losing one game for Madrid or Athletic Bilbao. You have to have a winning mentality at these clubs and that’s what I am transmitting to my players. They have to think every single game about how important one game is and to make sure they improve, try to be better than the last game.”

Middlesbrough are a point behind leaders Bournemouth, who are level with Derby, going in to this weekend’s matches and sit third. Karanka was named manager of the month for the first time yesterday, while attacking midfielder Lee Tomlin was handed the player of the month prize.

While the team’s performances this season have really made fans on Teesside hopeful of a return to the top-flight for the first time since relegation in 2009, the last month or so have really made the rest of the country take notice of the job Karanka is doing. He is refusing, though, to talk up the chances of winning the league.

“I work every day to win every single game,” said Karanka. “We can forget about talking about targets in May. Bournemouth are at the top of the table, they have worked with the same manager for years. Derby have one of the best managers in the league and they have signed five or six new players in this transfer window.

“It will be very difficult. I don’t want to talk about the end of the season. We work to win every single game. If I say today we are capable of winning the league, then we lose against Charlton and Blackpool, we can forget about everything. I prefer to focus on Charlton and then Blackpool ...”

Karanka, who is still without suspended Daniel Ayala but Tomas Kalas returns after injury, made no late moves in the transfer window on Monday and was happy to keep the rest of his squad intact despite interest from the Premier League in the likes of George Friend.

“I said I was very calm and confident because all of our players want to be here,” said Karanka. “They have showed me they are happy here and want to get promotion so it wasn't a surprise to keep everyone.”