Genoa captain Domenico Criscito admits they need “a minor miracle” to beat Juventus at the weekend.
The Grifone travel to Turin to face the league leaders on Saturday evening, with the Old Lady boasting a perfect record this season.
“Facing the seven-time champions of Italy will be fascinating,” Criscito told Corriere di Torino.
“To avoid defeat we’ll need a minor miracle. We expect a difficult game, Juventus with Cristiano Ronaldo are are scary.
“They’re among the big favourites for the Champions League, along with Paris Saint-Germain, and we know that’s the Bianconeri’s main objective.
“I said at the start of the season that they’d win every game, but now I think they will drop some points along the way.
“I’ve never played against CR7 before. It’ll be beautiful, Cristiano is an idol for all children, including mine, Alfredo and Alessandro, who have already asked me for his shirt.
“We met him in Dubai last year and, thanks to my partner Danny, we took a picture with him.
“Despite his age, Cristiano remains a champion, one who lives for football. He shows that game after game.
Douglas Costa? We already played against each other when he was at Shakhtar and I was at Zenit, he’s a great champion.
“[Coach Max] Allegri is spoiled for choice, he can count on 23 great players. If Douglas Costa doesn’t play it’ll be [Paulo] Dybala or [Federico] Bernardeschi.
“We’ll need to give 200 per cent and hope we find them on a bad day.”