I inspire myself: Ronaldo

Real Madrid and Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo says he inspires himself to play better football.

"Most of the time, I inspire myself. I'm self-motivated," goal.com quoted Ronaldo as saying on Saturday.

The 30-year-old, who has grabbed the prestigious Ballon d'Or three times, said he looked up to players like Luis Figo in his younger days.

"At that age, I was looking at a big reference in the national team, for example, (Luis) Figo, Rui Costa, Fernando Couto. It was kind of a dream to reach that level," he said.

"The national team, I'd look at them and I'd speak for myself: I want to be a professional player and I want to play for the national team. But I don't have one specific person that I just follow."

He added that he tries to pick up the best skills from players from different sports.

"As I said before, I'm self-motivated. I'm always like that since the beginning when I was young, (up until) now. Of course, I appreciate other players, talented players, great players - not just in football but in other sports because people enjoy to see, in different specific sports, the best ones," he said.

"You should be able to understand that you don't know everything so the other guy can help you in this kind of way so I just pick the best things off other sports."