Mesut Ozil has praised his former Real Madrid teammate Cristiano Ronaldo, calling the Ballon d’Or winner ‘a genius’.
The two came up against each other earlier this week as Germany beat Portugal 4-0 at the World Cup.
But the Mannschaft playmaker has insisted that despite the result, the Blancos forward is the best around.
“Cristiano Ronaldo had given his all for Real Madrid,” he told The Times of India.
“From my experiences in training sessions with him I know he is truly a genius. To be able to contain him the way we did was commendable for our defence.
“Germany have always played well in the World Cup. History proved that, since we were the first nation to play 100 matches at the World Cup.
“And it was the perfect start to the cup, beating Portugal 4-0. To be able to win against them with such a convincing margin proved we are ready. But there is a long way to go.
“We are confident and that reflected in our performance. We know we have trained hard, [and] we have tried to strengthen ourselves a little bit more because it's a World Cup and we shall continue to do the same.”
