Leonardo Bonucci Explained The Difference Between Cristiano Ronaldo And Everyone Else

Through hard work and dedication, Cristiano Ronaldo has become one of the all-time greats.

Ronaldo's application has never been questioned, and to add evidence of his immense dedication to the craft, teammate Leonardo Bonucci has revealed all.

Asked what Ronaldo brings to the table at Juventus, the Italian defender spoke incredibly highly of the five time Ballon d'Or winner.

"His intensity and his straightforward manner of playing," Bonucci said in an interview with AS.

"He's the first one to support the rest of the team with positive words. His manner of training is incredible, every day after training you'll find him doing extra session in the club gymnasium.

"There are times when his levels of stamina are simply staggering.

"He's a machine and I have great admiration for him."

Ronaldo's ex-fitness coach Giovanni Mauri gave an insight into how Cristiano's mind works, revealing Real Madrid's all time top scorer does training sessions at 2 am after returning from Champions League games.

"Cristiano is a phenomenon and an elite level athlete," Mauri explained to Tuttosport.

"He always trains to the best possible level because his way of working is comprised of three things: dedication, competitiveness and a positive attitude.

"We are talking about a world class player who, when we returned home at 2am from a Champions League away match, would not jet off home in his car.

"No, he would stop at the training centre for at least an hour for various recovery exercises and cryotherapy."

Even at 35-years-old there's next to no chance of the Juventus forward slowing down at any time. Already this season he's scored three goals in two Serie A games for the Old Lady.

At international level he's scored twice in one Nations League game to take him beyond 100 goals for Portugal, becoming on the second player to reach the landmark in international football.

Just how much longer can he go on?

Topics: Football News, Serie A, Leonardo Bonucci, Juventus, Champions League, Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid, Italy

Jack Kenmare

Jack Kenmare is a writer at SPORTbible. He's interviewed some of the biggest names in sport, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pele, Carles Puyol and Tim Henman. He dabbles in all things sport but football is his biggest passion. He was once hit in the head by a wayward strike from Nicky Butt and lived to tell the tale.

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