Manchester City's Gabriel Jesus said he has been inspired by Ronaldo as he recovers from a knee injury.
Jesus reached out to the Brazil legend after he injured the medial collateral ligament in his left knee in City's goalless draw with Crystal Palace on Dec. 31.
Ronaldo missed nearly two years after injuring his right knee while with Inter Milan in 1999 and then later injured his left knee while with AC Milan in 2008.
"Besides being a fan of him as a player, I had the pleasure of getting to know the person he is, which made me admire him even more," Jesus told UOL Esporte.
"He's conquered everything but is still humble -- and great company. I'm proud to be able to have his help and advice."
Manager Pep Guardiola originally said Jesus was expected to miss one to two months because of the injury, but Jesus said the injury was more complicated than originally thought and he only had the brace taken off his left knee last week.
"I'm getting better every day and recovering, but I must recover well -- not too fast," Jesus said. "The knee is very complicated, even more so as I've never had an injury there. I need to take good care of myself so that I can get back better than I was."
The 20-year-old also said that he had many "negative thoughts" at the time of the injury, including worries he would not be fit to make the Brazil squad ahead of the World Cup this summer.
"That moment was complicated because I had thoughts about the national team, about the rest of the season -- I thought of everything," he said. "I'm hitting the ball a little bit now -- I missed that a lot -- but I'm still a little scared.
"In a week, I'll spend more days hitting the ball and, in a short time, I'll train with the team again."
Jesus' return could boost City's chances of capturing a rare Quadruple. The runaway Premier League leaders, they won the first leg of their Champions League round-of-16 tie at Basel on Tuesday, will meet Wigan in the fifth round of the FA Cup on Monday and face Arsenal in the League Cup final on Feb. 25.