Chelsea star Mason Mount has admitted to idolising Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo while he was growing up.
On Thursday night, Mount lined up against Ronaldo as United hosted the Blues at Old Trafford. And the Chelsea academy product was able to witness Ronaldo's magic first-hand when he powered home a close-range finish to bring the Reds level.
Speaking to Amazon Prime, Mount explained how Cristiano was an inspiration during his time growing up despite being a Portsmouth fan. He explained: "I think everyone has seen the video of when I was younger basing my free kick off him. I always watched him very closely when he was at United as a young kid. I loved the way he played, his free kicks.
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"I'm a massive Pompey fan, so I went to the game when they played at Old Trafford and he scored that free-kick against David James. I was actually at the game, in the corner so I saw it first hand and I think after that I kind of fell in love with the technique and what he'd done and him as a player.
"So I always try to look at and work out, what can I do, to put it into my game? But now to play against him and be up against him is the journey that you go on from watching someone in the stands as a fan and then to being on the same pitch and playing against them.
"It's a crazy journey and yeah, that's why I love football so much."
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