Sporting Lisbon coach Jorge Jesus has told Marca that Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo "was born to score goals" ahead of the teams' Champions League clash on Tuesday.
Ronaldo had endured a slow start to the campaign by his own high standards but, in his first game since putting pen to paper on a five-year extension with Real on Nov. 7, the Portugal captain scored a hat trick in Saturday's 3-0 triumph at Atletico Madrid.
Ahead of Ronaldo's return to former club Sporting on Tuesday, Jorge Jesus said: "Ronaldo was born to score goals. He is the striker that scores the most goals in the world.
"When we say that he is the best in the world, it is because of everything. He has a talent beyond the norm.
"When you take on a player like that, you can't think that he is going through a goal drought. He just scores."
Ronaldo scored against Sporting in Real's dramatic late 2-1 win at the Bernabeu on Sept. 14 and Jorge Jesus said: "When we went to Madrid, he [Ronaldo] had gone a year without scoring from a free kick and he did just that against us.
"The free kick he scored showed that he is very intelligent and he has experience. Any coach would love to work with Cristiano. I've never done that, but I would like to."
The Sporting boss says there are ways to contain Ronaldo, though.
"Of course you can prepare to do that," he said. "You can do that individually and collectively during certain times during the game. When we don't want a player to get much space, we do it like that. Just as we did in Madrid."
A last-gasp winner from Alvaro Morata gave Real victory at the Bernabeu stadium the first time the sides met this season.
"We lacked experience," Jorge Jesus said. "When you are 1-0 up in the 83rd minute, it can happen that you don't win the game but you can never lose. My players learned that.
"We know we are facing the strongest team in the world -- that is why they won the Champions League last season.
"We know that against Madrid, you have a 20 percent chance of winning because you have to take many risks and depend on the fact that any genius player of Madrid can ruin all the work you have done."
Real are second in Group F and need a point at Sporting to join Borussia Dortmund in the round of 16.
Sporting are five points adrift of Real in third place and two points clear of Legia Warsaw.
The Portuguese side must not only win both of their remaining games to have any chance of advancing but hope the Spanish giants slip up at home to Dortmund in their last group match.
A third-place finish would see Sporting competing in the Europa League.
"This is a very important game for us not just because of the Champions League but also to ensure that we qualify for the Europa League," Jorge Jesus said.