Giorgio Chiellini praised Cristiano Ronaldo and said the Juventus star went to another level when it came to the Champions League.
Chasing a first Champions League title since 1996, Juve were in the last 16 – having lost the first leg away to Lyon 1-0 – when the season was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Ronaldo, 35, became the first player to win the Champions League five times when he helped Real Madrid claim the title in 2018.
Chiellini said the Portugal international raised his level when it came to Europe's elite club competition.
"Cristiano is doing well even though he had that knee problem that slowed him down for a month and a half," he told Christian Vieri during an Instagram Live chat on Friday.
"He changed the way he played compared to when he was younger. He is enhanced with the big games.
"Maybe against the small teams he makes a performance that seems subdued. With the big ones, he is incredible.
"In the Champions League, he turns. He feels it coming and he turns the engine up."
Ronaldo's international team-mate Bernardo Silva also spoke highly of the former Manchester United superstar .
He says his compatriot wants to win even more trophies and joked that it is even ‘annoying’ how much he is driven to win in training.
"I think what makes him so great is his mentality,” the Manchester City midfielder said.
"He is 35 years old and it has been more than 15 years that he has played at the top level and he is not tired. He always wants more.
"He wants to win more Champions Leagues, he wants to win more titles with Portugal, he wants to win more leagues, more individual trophies, he wants more goals.
"I think what is annoying about him, in a way, is that in a training session, you play a game, and it is 1-1. The manager says whoever scores wins, and it is always him. It is not only in the games.
"When a game is stuck and you don’t know if you’re going to win or not, you know that if you give him the ball, he is the guy who decides; something special might happen when he has the ball.
"Even in the training session it is kind of annoying because it is always him that scores the most important goals! I think that is what makes him special, being there in the most important moments."
Ronaldo has scored 25 goals in 32 games for Juventus this season, including two in seven in the Champions League.