On Tuesday, unidentified soccer fans in Cristiano Ronaldo’s hometown of Funchal, Madeira in Portugal defaced Ronaldo’s statue. The act of defacement itself is bad enough, but what they defaced it with makes this even more cruel: “Messi 10.”
Lionel Messi fans celebrated Ballon d’Or win by vandalizing Cristiano Ronaldo statue
'Messi 10' daubed on Cristiano Ronaldo statue in his native Madeira https://t.co/qrF6NPjigj pic.twitter.com/Ol4mTURlYz
— AS English (@English_AS) January 12, 2016 The statue itself was built in 2014 as a memorial to Ronaldo, unveiled as a part of his personal museum. The statue's defacement happened a day after Lionel Messi was awarded the men's Ballon d'Or over Ronaldo. Whoever did this definitely wanted to pour even more salt in Ronaldo's wounds.
Unsurprisingly, this did not go over well with the people of Funchal, especially Ronaldo’s sister, per AS.com:
Cristiano’s sister Katia Aveiro criticized the perpetrators stating, “This is a disgraceful act of vandalism in itself but just shows the levels of jealousy that exist. As a Portuguese citizen it embarrasses and saddens me. This island is clearly still inhabited by savages who have no respect and don’t know how to live in a respectable society.”
