March 29, 2017
A bust of Real Madrid and Portugal superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has been slammed as “questionable” and “horrifying” after it was unveiled at the Aeroporto da Madeira.
Per The Telegraph‘s Sean Gibson, the airport has been renamed the Cristiano Ronaldo International Airport to honour the island’s most famous citizen, but the new statue unveiled to mark the occasion bears little resemblance to the four-time Ballon d’Or winner:
Reaction to the bust has been mixed. The Football Ramble echoed the thoughts of many:
Meanwhile, BBC Sport’s Dan Walker felt there may have been some confusion over the subject of the sculpture:
Agence France-Presse’s Tom Williams was reminded of another suspect statue of the former Manchester United star, which stands outside his personal museum:
Betting company Coral eschewed the opportunity to joke at Ronaldo’s expense and simply stated the obvious:
Bleacher Report UK got in on the fun:
Simon Peach of the Press Association thought the bust looked quite familiar:
The comparisons didn’t end there, per Dan O’Connell of Radio X:
Per football writer Richard Gibson, though, the star himself seemed to take it in good spirit:
Ronaldo will likely return to action with Real against Alaves in La Liga on Sunday after scoring against both Sweden and Hungary for Portugal during the international break. Â