“I loved the way he played” – Chelsea star reveals he grew up idolising Manchester United hero Cristiano Ronaldo 

Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount has revealed he grew up idolizing Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo.

A video of Mount successfully implementing the Portuguese's freekick technique of hitting the valve on the ball went viral on social media.

The Chelsea midfielder explained that he watched one of Ronaldo’s most popular freekicks against Portsmouth live in 2008. He then tried to implement it on the training ground.

Mount told Amazon Prime in an interview (via Football London):

"I think everyone has seen the video of when I was younger basing my free kick off him [Cristiano Ronaldo]. I always watched him very closely when he was at United as a young kid. I loved the way he played, his free kicks."

He added:

"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."

The England international also talked about the experience of watching the Portuguese striker live to now play against him. He said:

“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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Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo's free-kicks have inspired a generation of footballers including Chelsea’s Mason Mount

It’s certainly not a surprise that several players, both young and old, tried to implement Ronaldo’s freekick technique with a varied degree of success.

The swerve it generated was hard to read for the goalkeepers. It wasn’t always simple hitting through the ball and hoping it would come down in time to hit the target. The skill required to pull it off was incredible.

While the technique might not be as popular in today’s generation, players still look up to the Manchester United star for the standards he sets for himself.

The longevity and performance levels the Manchester United forward has achieved is staggering. The 37-year-old forward has already inspired a generation of footballers.

Mount’s progress has been pretty incredible as well. He broke into the first team in 2019 and has kept his place even though Chelsea have spent a lot of money to strengthen the squad.