Whatever you think of him, surely you have to admire this moment from Cristiano Ronaldo.
Sure there are occasions when he lambastes his teammates for not giving him the ball and there have even been times when he’s appeared annoyed when a teammate has scored, because that means he didn’t find the net.
That’s the nature of the very unique beast.
But if you think that Ronaldo doesn’t care about his fans, you’d best think again.
The Real Madrid forward carried his marvellous goalscoring streak into international duty this weekend, when he headed home a double as Portugal condemned Latvia to a 3-0 defeat.
Ronaldo opened the scoring ahead of half-time before he beat Andris Vanins with his 53rd goal of the season.
His record is an incredible one and Ronaldo looks nailed on for another Ballon d’Or this year.
Ronaldo’s success is undeniable because his tally is clear for all to see but what’s less quantifiable is the 32-year-old’s connection with his fans.
One such fan sprinted on to the pitch during Friday night’s game and Ronaldo did not shy away from the chance to offer a young supporter an unforgettable moment as he embraced the pitch invader on the halfway line.
Kid runs on to hug Ronaldo… with three minutes left to play. Ronaldo and Quaresma laughing away pic.twitter.com/ltVI25krhc
— Jack Lang (@jacklang) June 9, 2017
https://twitter.com/Troll__Footbal/status/873281201494122497
Ronaldo waited patiently in injury time for stewards to arrive to escort the excited kid off the pitch, with his day made and a story to tell his classmates for years to come.
