On Wednesday evening, Cristiano Ronaldo makes his triumphant return to Madrid.In the city where he became a bona fide footballing legend, the Manchester United icon will do battle with Atletico, one of his favourite opponents.At Real Madrid, Ronaldo was a constant thorn in Diego Simeone's side - particularly in the Champions League.The 37-year-old scored the decisive penalty in the 2016 final shootout contested between the two sides and he then scored a hat-trick in a semi-final first leg at the Bernabeu a year later.That was the first of two trebles for Ronaldo against Atletico in the Champions League, the second coming just short of two years later when he was wearing Juventus colours.After the Bianconeri suffered a 2-0 defeat at the Wanda Metropolitano in the first leg of the last-16 tie, Ronaldo took matter into his own hands by completing a solo revenge mission in Turin.
He put Juventus 1-0 up at the half-time break with a trademark header and during the interval, Ronaldo clearly realised the team were on the brink of something special.So in the tunnel, the serial winner decided to go into 'elite mentality mode' in order to help prepare his colleagues for battle in the second half.Check out the brilliant footage captured from inside the tunnel at the Allianz Stadium that memorable Champions League evening here...
Video: Ronaldo's 'elite mentality' at HT v Atletico in 2019
As soon as Ronaldo emerged, he did his very best to motivate his teammates, including club captain Giorgio Chiellini - a man famed for being a leader himself.
And after his inspirational actions in the tunnel, the Portuguese forward strutted out onto the hallowed turf and produced a second half masterclass.
Ronaldo levelled the tie on aggregate with another header that was simply too hot to handle for Jan Oblak, before holding his nerve from the penalty spot in the 86th-minute to send Juventus into the quarter-finals.
Video: Ronaldo's incredible hat-trick to seal comeback win v Atletico
It really was a Champions League epic, one that was dominated by the competition's greatest ever player.