Cristiano Ronaldo's mental strength inspires me, says Virat Kohli

Indian skipper Virat Kohli on Sunday expressed his admiration for Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo saying the latter has a "beast mentality".

Kohli joined Indian football team captain Sunil Chhetri on an Instagram Live video session where both the athletes talked on a range of topics.

During the interaction, Chhetri asked Kohli to name "one non-cricket playing athlete who makes your jaw drop when you watch his or her live performance."
 

"Cristiano Ronaldo. Let me explain, there are many great athletes and there are people who you look up to. There are people who play in a manner that is amazing but to turn up for big matches that regularly Cristiano stands out," Kohli replied.

The Indian skipper also recalled Champions League match between Juventus and Atletico Madrid where Ronaldo had netted a hat-trick to take his side through.

 

In the 2018-19 season of the Champions League, Juventus were trailing 2-0 after the first leg against Atletico Madrid. However, in the second leg, the 35-year-old scored a hat trick to hand Juventus a 3-0 victory.

"What stood out was he went to Juventus and it was a Champions League match against Atletico Madrid. They lost 2-0 (in the first leg). For a guy to say, two days prior to the game, all his friends who come into the game, it is going to be a special night. The conviction for that guy to say that we are going to go through and score a hat-trick and take them through, that to me is a beast mentality," Kohli said.