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Sporting coach says Ronaldo was more artist than athlete as a child

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Sporting Lisbon youth coach Aurelio Pereira says that when he worked with Cristiano Ronaldo as a boy, the Real Madrid star was like Mozart, spending countless hours on his craft to become an all-time great.

"As a boy, Cristiano was more of an artist than today," Pereira - who still works as youth recruitment and development chief at Sporting - told AS, as reported by ESPN FC's Dermot Corrigan.

"Today he is more an athlete, as he has changed, remodelling his body to meet the demands," He said. "He has moved from a fantasy footballer into another more physical type of player."

Pereira was at the club when Ronaldo first arrived from Madeira club Nacional, as an 11-year-old boy back in 1997. He described how young Cristiano would try and cover every inch of grass on the pitch, and he was very strong defensively, the epitome of a "complete" player.

"At the start, Cristiano was not a goal scorer, he was a box-to-box player," Pereira said. "Aged 11, he used both left and right foot.

"He defended well, he occupied the whole pitch, he was fast and skillful, even good in the air. He was a complete player."

The longtime youth coach praised Ronaldo for his relentless efforts on the training ground, and he even compared the Portuguese captain to one legendary classical musician.

"They say that when Mozart was 6 years old he had already done 3,500 hours of practice on the piano," Pereira said. "Cristiano is like that, a natural talent, but who has always worked on it. Having talent is not enough to be a genius, you must put in the work."

Ronaldo gets back to work on Tuesday, when he faces his childhood club Sporting Lisbon in a Champions League Group F matchup.

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