After Paul, the octopus, Elephant Nelly and Turtles Momario and Cabecao, Achilles the cat has become a prominent name for her predictions. The deaf blue-eyed cat has made her pick for the winner of the first game of 2018 FIFA World Cup which will be played between Russia and Saudi Arabia. According to her, the host will be winning the game against Saudi.

The cat was offered food in two bowls which were named after Russia and Saudi Arabia. The feline chose to eat from the bowl named after the hosts. With this, the fans have now heaved a sigh of relief as they have been in a poor form for a while now and are considered as the weakest team in the tournament.

Achilles lives in St Petersburg's Hermitage museum and has been trained well ahead of the mega tournament. "Achilles is now in his place of work, he is preparing for the World Cup and going through the adaptation process Achilles is made to follow a strict diet before the matches begin. People anyway tend to feed him all the time. So all that is now being strictly watched over. He has also undergone a medical checkup. The name of the cat comes from the tradition of giving names of famous painters and mythical heroes to their cats. The snow-white cat will make the predictions by choosing amongst two mice to eat. The country which flag is nearest to the mouse will win the match,” said veterinarian Anna Kondratieva.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 14, 2018 01:53 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).