Aaron Ramsey might have recently joined Juventus from Arsenal, but he cannot stop praising team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo, calling him unbelievable. With sporting events across the globe either cancelled or suspended, sportspersons have been taking to social media to interact with fans and friends.

In an Instagram live with singer and songwriter Niall Horan, Ramsay said: “He’s an exceptional athlete. He’s first in the gym, he goes through his whole routine first and then he’s out onto the pitches. He’s a winner, wants to win every single game, every small-sided game, whatever it is, then he’ll be out there practising his free-kicks and things like that and shooting. You don’t need me to tell you how good or driven he is, he’s unbelievable, he’s one of the greatest in the history of the game.”

Earlier, Juventus goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny praised his team-mate saying that the Portuguese “is obsessed with winning and he thinks just about work, even on trainings”.

On Friday the Pole was asked by the Polish TV Eleven Sports to compare Cristiano Ronaldo to Szczesny’s compatriot Robert Lewandowski from Bayern Munich, reports Xinhua news agency.

“I think Cristiano is more focused on work. There are jokes before and during the training. He is a machine. Lewandowski is a little more relaxed. I don’t compare who works more, but who is obsessed with this work. It’s definitely Cristiano,” said Juventus custodian.

“Cristiano has an egoist face on the pitch and I think that face makes him one of the best players in football history. It sometimes makes him look frustrated and thus looks selfish. It’s just an obsession with winning, an obsession with being the best and requiring others to help him,” added Szczesny.

Meanwhile, Portuguese officials have defended Ronaldo after he left home and was seen training with other people at a soccer pitch amid a national lockdown to stem the coronavirus outbreak.

The incident occurred on the island of Madeira, his birthplace. He was observed shooting a ball at a goal with someone playing goalkeeper, along with two other people. They all appeared to be several meters apart.

“Cristiano did solely a few minutes of exercize and from that comes no harm to the world,” regional health authority Carlos Ramos said.

“All citizens can go out and do some physical exercize as long as they do not gather in big groups and keep their distance from other people they may encounter while exercizing,” Ramos said.

“So I think that Cristiano did only what we have seen.”

Portugal has been under a state of emergency for three weeks. The country has more than 15,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 435 deaths.

Agencies