Cristiano Ronaldo Compared to Mozart by Sporting CP Youth Coach Aurelio Pereira

Sporting CP youth coach Aurelio Pereira has compared the talent and work ethic of Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo with that of iconic music composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Pereira was discussing the Portuguese forward ahead of Tuesday's showdown between Sporting and Madrid, which will see Ronaldo return to the club at which he started his decorated career. Pereira thinks, like the genius Mozart, the Los Blancos star showed all the tools to succeed from a very young age.

"They say that when Mozart was six years old he had already done 3,500 hours of practice on the piano," he told AS (h/t Dermot Corrigan of ESPN FC). "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."

As noted by Corrigan, in an interview with El Pais, Portugal manager Fernando Santos also compared Ronaldo to some of the artistic visionaries. "For me Cristiano is the best, although I have always been reticent to compare geniuses," he said. "Da Vinci, Rafael or Michelangelo, who is the best? It is about your taste."

That desirable blend has undoubtedly helped propel Ronaldo into the revered status he currently occupies in the football world. It's a position he's cemented further with some wonderful moments in 2016.

Indeed, Ronaldo scored the winning penalty for Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League win over rivals Atletico Madrid, captained Portugal to glory at the UEFA European Championship and, recently, bagged a hat-trick against Atletico to put Los Blancos four points clear at the top of the La Liga table.

The BigSport Twitter feed provided the numbers behind what has been one of the best years of Ronaldo's career:

Throughout his playing days, the manner in which he's operated on the field over time has altered, with Pereira suggesting Ronaldo was an "artist" in his youth.

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

PAULO DUARTE/Associated Press

That, of course, is no bad thing. Ronaldo's transformation from a fleet-footed winger into goalscorer has allowed him to remain at the very top for so long.

As Kieran Canning of AFP noted in the aftermath of Real's derby win, it's a progression that has allowed Ronaldo's team-mates to flourish, too:

Returning to Lisbon to face his former club will be another day to savour for Ronaldo in 2016; he's set to receive a hero's welcome as one of the club's own and the man who captained Portugal to European glory in the summer.

There'll be serious business for the 31-year-old and his Real Madrid team-mates to attend to, though. They currently trail Group F leaders Borussia Dortmund by two points and will be desperate to keep the pressure on the German side with a win here; Sporting need to win if they're to stand any serious chance of progressing into the knockout stages.