Cristiano Ronaldo makes social media post ahead of Portugal's Nations League clash with Poland
Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo returns to international duty as his team resume their UEFA Nations League campaign against Poland at the National Stadium in Warsaw on Saturday (October 12).
The 39-year-old has been in good form in the competition - scoring in his side's opening two games - with A Selecao winning both. The first of those strikes - in a 2-1 win over Croatia in Lisbon last month - was Ronaldo's landmark 900th strike for club and country.
After also scoring in the 2-1 win at Iceland three days later, the five-time Ballon d'Or winner has continued his impressive form at Al-Nassr - scoring in all but one of five games across competitions, contributing four goals and an assist.
Ahead of his team's third Nations League game, Ronaldo posted a picture of himself on Instagram and captioned it with a smiley.
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner is coming off a goal and an assist in Al-Nassr's 3-0 home win over Al-Orobah at the weekend. Stefano Pioli's side are third in the standings after six games, being the only two unbeaten sides in the division, the other being leaders Al-Hilal, who are three points clear at the top.
"Cristiano Ronaldo is an exception, and there are very few exceptions like him" - Robert Lewandowski
Poland captain Robert Lewandowski has lavished praise on his Portugal counterpart Cristiano Ronaldo ahead of the two teams' meeting in the Polish capital this weekend.
Lewandowski - who plays for Barcelona - said that even though Ronaldo is almost 40, he still retains the hunger to succeed and is in good physical condition, elaborating (as per Hindustan Times):
"As for Cristiano, he has written many pages of history and has always raised the bar for everyone around him, and this is something that cannot be overlooked. Although he has achieved everything or almost everything, and he's 39 years old and approaching 40.
"It's clear that he has ambition, as he gets angry and nervous, and this shows his great ambition. I think if he didn’t have that anger, he might have looked like he was just playing for the sake of playing. But he clearly still has the desire, and he looks physically in very good shape, which shows that the path he chose was successful."
He concluded:
“Regardless of age, his numbers keep going up and not the other way around. Of course, he is an exception, and there are very few exceptions like him."
Like Cristiano Ronaldo, Lewandowski is also off to a fine start to the season, registering 12 goals and two assists in 11 games across competitions.